Recruitment Assistant

This is an exciting opportunity to join Howard Kennedy's Recruitment team as a Recruitment Assistant. You will work closely with the Recruitment Specialist and Senior Recruitment Manager to attract and recruit exceptional talent across the firm. This role is ideal for someone with strong organisational skills and a genuine interest in developing a career in recruitment. In this interesting and varied role you will gain exposure to recruitment processes from Trainee to Partner level, contribute to strategic projects, and enjoy a collaborative, inclusive working environment.

Role Responsibilities

• Candidate Management: Act as the first point of contact for candidates, managing recruitment mailboxes and ensuring timely responses. Schedule interviews and liaise with candidates, agencies, and hiring managers to ensure a smooth process.
• Systems & Administration: Maintain and update the Applicant Tracking System (Tribepad), including posting vacancies, progressing candidates, and logging feedback. Take responsibility for reporting, including reporting on direct recruitment cost savings, application trends etc. Manage recruitment administration such as invoices and agency terms of business.
• Direct Recruitment: Lead the end to end recruitment process for paralegal and business support roles, including CV review, shortlisting, interviewing and managing the offer process. Contribute to direct recruitment initiatives such as talent pooling.
• Onboarding & Induction: Support onboarding by working with other members of the HR team to ensure a seamless experience for new joiners. Arrange new joiner inductions and act as a point of contact until start date. Oversee new joiner screening processes.
• Trainee Recruitment: Support the screening of Trainee applications at all stages of the recruitment process. Assist with trainee recruitment logistics, including assessment days and insight events. Attend insight events, promoting the firm and our training contract opportunities.
• Projects & Initiatives: Support diversity and inclusion initiatives and contribute to employer branding projects. Participate in process improvement projects to enhance candidate experience and recruitment efficiency.

About you

You will ideally be able to demonstrate:

• Experience in a similar role within a recruitment or HR function.
• Strong organisational and time management skills.
• An understanding of the importance of excellent candidate experience.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building abilities, both internally and with external candidates and suppliers.
• Attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Client service and problem-solving skills.
• A proactive approach and willingness to learn.

At Howard Kennedy we believe that everyone deserves the space to thrive. We’re committed to creating an inclusive recruitment experience that reflects the diversity of both our people and our clients. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and identities, and we’re committed to ensuring that our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and accessible to all. We understand that every candidate’s needs are different. If there’s anything we can do to make your application journey more comfortable—whether for interviews, assessments, or onboarding—please let us know. We’ll work with you to remove any barriers and ensure our recruitment process is comfortable for you.

Agency Introductions: Please note that we are not accepting applications via agencies for this role at this time. Before sharing any named candidate CVs, please contact your recruitment representative. If any named CVs are sent from agencies without approval from our recruitment team, they will not be deemed valid introductions, and no agency fee will be paid.