After a client has agreed to see your candidate, always keep them updated on your candidates other interviews, if necessary, request an earlier interview so as not to loose the candidate. As a general rule, the shorter the recruitment process, the better the chance you will make a fee. The longer, the more chance it will break down along the way. If a client is really interested they will bring forward an interview date to combat a competitor employer.

Keep in touch with candidates after they have start the job. We've all lost fees when a candidate leaves within the first few weeks and client fails to pay. A simple call after a couple of weeks to the candidate to see if all is well may just give you advance notice things aren't right. In some cases, counseling to advise the candidate to 'give it a proper chance' and stay longer may just save yourself a fee.

Maintain regular contact with client managers, don't wait for a call to learn of new vacancies. Making placements can often be a question of getting to new vacancies first in order to then reach candidates first. If you wait for a manager to call you, the chances are you won't be first, in which case many good candidates will be scooped up by other agencies before you are able to start.

If you loose an excellent candidate to another job, always call them after 3 months to see how they're getting on. If their new role is not what they thought, you may pick up an excellent candidate without any effort. It's surprising how frequently companies or their agents mis sell a vacancy only to leave a good candidate once again considering their options. If you are close by you can pick up an easy extra placement.

Post jobs on job boards the minute you learn of them. Recruitment is highly competitive. A new vacancy will likely find the desk of many recruitment consultants as well as yours. The first people to get the adverts up will likely receive the choice pick of the candidates. Be last and you'll simply find your calling candidates already aware and submitted to the role. In recruitment the early bird certainly does catch the worm.

The recruitment consultants job is so competitive, you need to find as many habits as possible that will contribute to your billing. Follow these tips and your placements will go up.