A job placement consultant matches employers with employees. In accomplishing this task, he or she places ads for applicants, then reads over their applications to schedule interviews with those who seem qualified. The initial interview may be over the telephone. After that process, the job placement consultant narrows the list of applicants down even further. Job placement consultants, who typically work for either a for-profit employment agency or a government-funded program, may interview a small number of applicants for a particular position in person to choose the best one.
The employment ads that consultants place may be on Internet job boards or in the classified sections of newspapers. Job placement consultants must write the ad to attract qualified applicants so that their time isn't wasted by sorting through applications that aren't anywhere near a match for the positions. Information about the position as well as the required education and experience from their employer client gives the consultants the necessary details to include in the ad. The consultants may check the applications that come in for the job themselves or an assistant may pre-screen them by reading through resumes to save time.
Before contacting applicants who seem like a good match with what a particular employer specifies for a certain position, the consultant typically prepares a list of questions. He or she will then usually ask all of the applicants the same questions during a telephone interview to compare their answers and weed out anyone who no longer seems suitable for the position. A job placement consultant may send the interview questions by email to save time, but eventually is likely to do a phone interview in order to speak with each short-listed applicant.
Most job placement consultants won't schedule an in-person interview with applicants unless they're sure that these ad respondents are a good match. Sometimes, a job placement consultant will find that applicants may be suitable for more than one employer's request to fill a position. If this is the case, the consultant may interview these applicants in person for several jobs at once. One of the most basic duties of a employment placement consultant is to keep a database of skilled and experienced applicants on file. This way, he or she can first check the database for a possible employer-employee match before placing a job ad for the position.