I'm not a recruitment consultant, but I've used them.
Essentially the job consists of, depending on the place you will be working, digging through resume's, online job sites, and other keyword based search systems (these systems will vary) to find candidates for jobs that fit the description your customer gave you.
In my world, a software engineer, these will be things like: Java, Swing, J2ME, J2EE, Eclipse, Linux, etc. You'll bounce through resumes looking for people with experience in the same thing the customer wants. When you find people you will be responsible for setting them up with interviews, coaching them a little if you know your customer well, and even interviewing them yourself to see if they're worth putting the time into.
Recruiters are basically the in between for employers and employee candidates. A lot of companies use outside recruiters to save time and effort it takes to find someone themselves. Most contracts will require the recruiter to be the main, if not only, point of contact for the employer to the candidate. Essentially if the candidate has any questions they will query you. You will then query the employer directly.
Good recruiters know their market extremely well... Can fairly quickly find good resumes that fit the job description. They will know what Java programming entails and can decide of the experiences fit.
I know some recruiters personally and their job is fairly rewarding. It's a good job for people who enjoy communicating with others but don't want to do customer service or sales.
