The Institute of Recruiters (IOR), a new professional body for recruiters that launched on 1 June, expects to have 10,000 members within three years.

Azmat Mohammed, the IOR’s director of ICT & Operations, told Recruiter members would come from right across the recruitment community, including 25% from overseas.

Mohammed said the IOR’s USP was to offer education at all levels from work experience right up to post-graduate modules.

“We are a professional body promoting professional practice, primarily through education,” he said. And he emphasised the IOR was not a trade body.

Key points

• affiliate membership of IOR is free
• affiliates can then upgrade to member (for a £49 fee) after completing an online assessment
• they can upgrade to fellow by completing a mix of modules and continuous professional development (accredited by the University of Central Lancashire)
• IOR plans to offer apprenticeships and “a rotational programme” of agency, in-house and HR experience
• Corporate membership: annual fees range from £249 to £14,955 depending on turnover.

The run-up to the launch of the IOR was not without controversy. Mohammed admitted the institute had made a mistake in barring several people from its LinkedIn Group. “We were a little bit naïve and too heavy-handed, and we should have tried to engage a little bit more. It was a big mistake, we hold our hands up,” he said. “They were asking for information on membership prices and the company set up that we were not ready to publicise at that early stage,” he explained.

However, he defended the way the IOR invited lots of people to join its advisory board before the institute’s exact offering was in place. “There was a little bit of naïvety on our part, but we needed to find out what they thought of the industry and how it could improve, but some people didn’t understand this.”

The person responsible for heading up the IOR’s work on education was driven to get involved by his experience of discrimination by recruiters.

Mark Cutter, principal lecturer in the Innovation in Society Research Unit at the University of Central Lancashire Law School, who has mild cerebral palsy, told Recruiter: “I have experience of discrimination both by agencies and by in-house.”

Cutter said that among the discrimination he experienced was being told that a disabled lawyer would find it difficult to get work and that I was too young. “So I have a personal interest in there being better recruitment,” he explained.

Cutter is currently working on identifying training needs and mapping the key competencies needed for recruiters.

“It’s all about recruitment having standards and a degree of knowledge,” he said.

Cutter dismissed any suggestion that his lack of a recruitment background was a disadvantage in his role. “The fact that I haven’t got a recruitment background is precisely the reason why I should be leading this team because my motivation is not based on any preconceived idea or agenda.”