Recruitment Interview Questions & Answers

First interview was in the London office, for both G2 and Vivid.

Was asked about my CV and motivations as well what kind of person I was outside work/study.

G2 decided to interview me further by way of telephone with a sales manager from the head office.

Progressed to next stage where I was asked to travel to the head office to meet the sales manager who interviewed prior and the director of G2.

The interviews were organised very well and I was continually kept updated by internal recruitment.

If I gave you £1000 right now, what would you do it?

Look at yourself internally as a person before thinking joining as the company is very big on continual learning and self development.

Be prepared for questions which are very probing based on the things you say and what you have done on your CV.

Management can read you like a book. So don’t try and give answers that you think they want to hear.

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Brilliant process, met with Adam who asked a few questions to learn a bit more about myself and experiences. Then met with a couple of the senior management team who probed further and really explained what the role would entail and helped me to understand the company and the role that I would be doing.

What is it about yourself that gets you out of bed

Prepare thoroughly, learn about what the company does before hand and have a good think about what you really want out of the job and your career. You will need to make sure you know why you want to work in a meritocracy and why you are prepared and driven enough for the role.

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I had 2 stage interview.

The interviews felt less like an interrogation and more like a conversation about if I would be a good fit for the role both professionally and within the culture of the business.
All members of the team spoke and qualified me for the role, which reflected the team mentality.

I didn't have a traditional background for the role as I had just finished a music degree, but they recognise soft skills over experience. so the questions related to that were the most difficult to navigate.

I feel that the best advice I can give (even though its a bit cliche) is to be yourself when applying for this role. Try and relax and do your research on the company. It's also important to be honest!

Chilled out environment with coffee and biscuits.

I went through a phone interview, and then an assessment center.

The phone conversation was pretty casual, mostly questions about myself and why I want to do recruitment, and what the job looks like.

The assessment center was friendly, with situational tasks and a presentation about the company.

A task involving how to deal with client objections.

I was advised to engage a lot during the assessment center, ask questions, be confident and chatty, and try to be the "leader" of the group. So just try to participate in all the tasks and ask relevant questions.

A lady held a presentation to give us more info about the company, then we did three group situational tasks. We also had a FAQ session where we could ask questions related to the job and the company.

I first met with the Talent Acquisition Manager in a 1to1. It was quite informal, she asked me a lot of questions about my background and personal interests, and we then discussed the role and my ambitions. Then, I met the Director of People and Infrastructure, and she asked more targeted questions.

"How would you sell the company to the candidates?"

Do your own researches about the company, and make sure that you know what you're talking about. Ask your own questions at the end of the interview, be confident, and show passion towards the role and the company.

I didn't have one

Initial telephone interview lasted about 20 minutes with one of the higher ups in the graduate recruitment team. I was asked what attracted to me the role, my skills, strengths and weaknesses and what skills I would like to develop. We also discussed my experiences that were listed on my CV and additional hobbies. I was finally invited to an assessment centre and I was informed of the details of said assessment centre.

Have you ever had a bad experience with an employer, and explain what happened and how it was resolved?

Be very outgoing and loud at the assessment centre. It seemed as though that's what the company was looking for. Be well rehearsed in your answers to general questions in regards to why you would want the position, what motivates you and your strengths and weaknesses.

An elevator pitch.
Then split into pairs, given 5 minutes to interview each other, and then gives 3 minutes to prepare a 1 minute presentation on your partner which had then to be delivered to the group.
Finally was a survival task, where we were split into 2 groups of approximately 10. The scenario was that we were stranded on a rubber dinghy in the middle of an ocean, and we had 15 items. The wask was to rank the items in terms of their importance

It was really laid back and more of a chat about my expereinces rather than an interview. She informed me the second stage included a elevator pitch and competency questions, however even that would be laid back. I felt at ease with the interviewer, as if I was having a chat talking about my past roles and my study year abroad.

If you could choose any job role, which would you choose?

If your applying for a trainee office role, dont assume they will hire you and train you, they are still looking for previous experiences in individuals therefore making it more difficult to be successful if you havent got this.

There was no assessment centre in this interview.

Following initial phone conversations with the recruiter, a face-to-face was arranged with the client company. This interview was a 'traditional' one-to-one format with one of their senior managers. It started off quite informally and we spoke about various aspects of the role and how they related to things I had done at university - mostly the extra curricular stuff. They were interested in the leadership qualities and ability to overcome adversity that these extracurricular activities had given me.

Following the first interview I was invited back after lunch to meet the managing director, and then I was offered the role via my recruiter later that day!

What are your weaknesses?

Be confident and be yourself. They aren't looking for particular background or personality types, but rather people who are confident and outgoing while being happy in their own skin. Think about times you overcame challenges and adversity, and think about times you have been in a competitive team environment, such as a sports team or something similar.

Met with senior management, met with the MD. It was all quite informal.

Obviously, as with any other company, the first thing I have done was to send my CV and cover Letter. I then received a call from one of their recruiters just to have a brief chat and he sent me some information about the company and the role. He told me to call him back in case I was interested. As I was, I have done a phone interview where I was asked some general questions on my background and on why I wanted to join that company. Specifically they asked me why I wanted to take over that role and how I would have been successful doing it. After the telephone interview I was invited to an assessment center in their HQ in London. We were previously given a couple of short case studies that we had to read for the assessment day. That day we had 3 exercises. The first one was a group one where we had to acquire a potential client: we were given time to discuss as a group of three people and then we had to do the role-play. The second was a face-to-face interview where we were supposed to be the interviewer; we were given a couple of CVs and the job description. Individually we had to decide which CV fitted the best and then we had to sell the position bargaining on the salary. Lastly, we had to solve an issue. They gave some real life problems and we had to pretend to be on the phone to calm the situation. Overall, the assessment center lasted around 2 hours and we were 6 people. At the assessment center they invite people for any type of position: from the entry level ones to the more specialized ones. Candidates were then given a mark in different relevant categories.

I found extremely hard pretending to be an interviewer. As I have never done it before, I missed some fundamental questions.

If you are interested in applying for this company there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, as with any other company, make sure your CV is up to date with all the relevant information, and the cover letter is tailored to the needs of the company. You do not have to be an expert in Adecco or recruitment consulting, however, it is important to possess some knowledge on the subject. What Adecco does, how it is divided, how it operates, and how it differs from its competitors. During the phone interview, just be calm and confident. This is what they want to see I think: a friendly confident individual who does not have problems to talk on the phone. Be interesting, keep the conversation going and prepare a couple of questions to ask the interviewer when the interview is finished. You can ask him the team members, the culture of the company: show him you are interested in understanding better the philosophy of the agency. For the assessment day, I do not have any real good advice that I can give since I did not get the job. Nevertheless, I would say to meet with a friend of yours and pretend to interview him for a job. I think that people should do some more role-playing at home. Try to imagine having a conversation with the HR manager of a big company and attracting him to make a contract with Adecco. Always be polite, but confident and firm.

That day we had 3 exercises. The first one was a group one where we had to acquire a potential client: we were given time to discuss as a group of three people and then we had to do the role-play. The second was a face-to-face interview where we were supposed to be the interviewer; we were given a couple of CVs and the job description. Individually we had to decide which CV fitted the best and then we had to sell the position bargaining on the salary. Lastly, we had to solve an issue. They gave some real life problems and we had to pretend to be on the phone to calm the situation. Overall, the assessment center lasted around 2 hours and we were 6 people. At the assessment center they invite people for any type of position: from the entry level ones to the more specialized ones. Candidates were then given a mark in different relevant categories.

I had to do a telephone interview, why do you want to work in recruitment and Hays. Then Face-to-Face similar with roles plays. I also did an assessment centre we did selling role plays like sell a candidate to a client, like what is good about them, why and i had to go into detail in a mock face-to-face meeting.

Assessment centre role plays were difficult, take your time.

Really think about what is being asked. The internal recruiter gives lots of information and clues out on the way and if you are listening you should be able to provide good answers. Ask open questions to get more information out of the recruiters.

Hard but gives a good insight into recruitment