APSCo to launch new online qualification to set professional benchmark for recruitment sector

APSCo to launch new online qualification to set professional benchmark for recruitment sector

Recruitment Practice Standard website to go live 14/02/11

The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) is launching a unique online assessment toolkit and qualification with the aim of establishing a universally recognised high-quality benchmark for the professional recruitment sector (http://recruitmentpracticestandard.com).

The web-based assessment hub called the Recruitment Practice Standard (RPS) was created by APSCo and Innergy, a leading management consultancy and training provider specialising in the recruitment sector.

Recruiters who have passed the assessments will be able to display the RPS initials after their names as proof of their level of knowledge and proficiency. Participating Recruitment Companies will be able to display the RPS logo on their websites to demonstrate their commitment to staff development.

The Recruitment Practice Standard will comprise three levels of assessment which have been designed by a steering group of experts on recruitment and training from the professional recruiting sector. Each examination has been developed to be thorough, challenging and a benchmark for industry excellence, creating the highest possible standards of best practice.

The three assessment levels are based on how much experience a candidate has in recruitment. Level 1 is designed for recruiters with up to 1 year experience; Level 2 is for recruiters with 1-3 years experience; and Level 3 is for recruiters with 3-5 years experience.

Each assessment has approximately 120 questions, split into six modular categories, and are randomly picked by the system from a library of questions to ensure that no two examinations are the same.

Ann Swain, Chief Executive of APSCo, comments: “The RPS qualification will be something unique to the professional staffing market. It has been developed specifically for recruitment consultants who place business professionals. While there are other recruitment qualifications on the market, there is nothing which has been designed with the high end of the market specifically in mind and tailored for distance-learning.”

“The RPS is part of our mission to raise professional standards in recruitment. I’m confident that the RPS initials and logo will be a recognised badge of quality, which will give recruiters a demonstrable competitive advantage when competing for business.”

The steering group behind the RPS consists of: Ann Swain (APSCo), Marilyn Davidson (APSCo), James Osborne (Innergy Ltd), Gordon Stoddart (Innergy Ltd), Kathryn Liston (Innergy Ltd), Fiona Lander (Lander Associates), Angela Cripps (Lander Associates), Jon Cox (Start Resourcing), Kevin Logan (GCS Recruitment), Paul Marsh (Lander Associates) and Julian Evans (Lander Associates).