Recruitment Interview Questions & Answers

Broken down, the interview was made up of three parts; firstly an informal chat with one of the team members, followed by a second interview with the regional directors and finally an online questionnaire.

The first meeting was to establish what I was looking for in a role and what Michael Page were looking for in a candidate. The second meeting was more difficult and involved two role play activities based upon everyday scenarios. Finally came the online questionnaire, comprised of both personal and probing questions and some problem-solving tasks, which I found to be the most challenging part of the interview process.

A section of the interview consisted of trying to sell myself as a candidate in the third person. I found this particularly difficult as it is something I felt a little awkward doing.

Do your research of the company but more importantly research thoroughly the specific role you are going for and really be prepared to talk yourself up in front of strangers, something which can at first seem rather daunting.

I undertook two role playing activities in which I was given possible hiccups to deal with. For example, you have put somebody into a job role set to start next Monday. The candidate calls you the Friday before and explains they have accepted another role with anther company. My task was then to call the prospective employer, explain the situation and suggest possible solutions.

In my initial phone interview they wanted to make sure I knew what the role was and was comfortable doing it. They asked questions like would you be able to support yourself on 16-18k the first year in a new place (ie. Bristol). They didn't want people dropping out as they couldn't afford to live. They wanted evidence of self motivation, happy to work in an individual role, evidence that you are money motivated. Not so much asking for experience, but when we were talking about the role as in why I applied I would say certain things and they would go "Ahh so you are self motivated!" "Ahh so you are money motivated!" etc..

The most difficult question would probably be in one of the tasks when doing a mock exercise as a recruitment consultant the intimidating mock client when told that we had a wider range of graduates than our competitors, announced he was in talks with recruitment businesses just as big and professional as us, what makes us stand out? As we had not started a career as Recruitment Consultants yet, our team was a bit stumped how to answer this and we were only able to offer whimsical suggestions.

Be really confidant straight away, talk to the other guys who are interviewing with you, don't see them as competitors. It's an interview, but also a great chance to social network with people interested in the same career as you. I have stayed in touch with four people from my interview and we have all tried to let each other know about jobs that are available. If you are moving to a new city it's a great way to meet people as well! From a purely interview perspective then the people you are speaking to may be doing the tasks with later, it's to your advantageous to already have a rapport in order to do tasks!

As much as it is not about the facts they give you for tasks, rather how you approach people, make sure you pick up the key tasks! There is nothing worse than when they ask you where a graduate works and you guess London! (Even if it is London!)

In groups of three we had to sell ourselves to a company looking for 5 graduates to use us and then see if there were any deals e can do ie. use us permanently or get a higher price.

The next task was individual where we met with a graduate and tried to convince them to take a job.

The next task was in groups of three again and it was doing problem solving, so hard issues by clients and graduates came up, played by the interviewers, that we had to deal with them accordingly.

The initial telephone interview was very brief, and asked a standard set of questions: Why Recruitment? Why Hays? and so on.

A one-on-one interview was arranged for the next morning. This lasted about half an hour. Involved a more detailed look over my CV, alongside a short role play of a recruitment scenario.

Was invited to attend assessment centre the next day.

Nothing particularly hard; role play was most challenging as hadn't done that before.

Don't forget it's a sales role; in any role play/scenario you should get something positive out of it. Getting your candidate (in the scenario) an interview is ideal.

The assessment centre is the most challenging part by far. I would really recommend practicing some role-play or general recruitment phone calls with somebody if possible - don't get flustered by an objection which you should be able to overcome.

Arrived at Recruitment Centre in London at 8:30. There was about 17 people there. First exercise you were given a short period of time to either agree or disagree with a generic statement about business/recruitment. This was fairly tough, albeit only as I was first. Those at the end of the table had a good 8 minutes to prepare in contrast to my 30 seconds.

Secondly, the group split into two. One takes a tour around the office and talks to some current staff. Members of the other group are given a CV each of varying strength. Asked to rank them in order of quality, then perform an individual exercise trying to sell the candidate to the client. Remember to sell the interview and you'll be fine; be persistent! Groups then rotate around.

Thirdly, you are assigned a random recruitment scenario as you go to the front of the room for a role-play. You've got no time to prepare for this one. Just remember to get something positive out of it and you'll be fine; don't forget to use creative license.

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Lastly, we were told to write a job spec for a trainee recruitment consultant whilst they go out of the room to decide who is through to the final interviews. This task is essentially pointless as far as I can work, as if you're out it won't get looked at (and probably doesn't if you get through).

I was invited back for final interviews (same day). This involved 3 interviews with members of the sector in which I would be placed. Roughly, I'd say they were done to test 1) Motivation 2) Sales ability / How you'd fit in 3) Personality (although there was definitely crossover between all 3 people interviewing).

Didn't find the final interviews particularly challenging, as long as you're aware of your CV and past you should be ok.

I was told I'd hear back the following Monday although had nothing. Attempted to chase them up later in the week and couldn't get through to the internal recruiter. Sent an e-mail and arranged to speak the next day, although was busy again when I phoned. Asked for feedback via email finally although had nothing since.

The interview took place in a relatively relaxed atmosphere; one on one chat around a small table overlooking the sights of London.
Went through my past experiences and was briefed on the 3 main competences of working in recruitment for which I then had to describe how I matched each competency, giving examples from previous experience. Other questions involved why I wanted to work in recruitment and factors that motivated me personally and why.
The interview lasted around 45mins.

The most difficult aspect of the interview was trying to use a range of different examples from previous experience to describe how you demonstrated resilience in a working environment, as it is likely you will experience a number of drawbacks throughout your time in recruitment which you need to be able to pick yourself up from and come back stronger.

Make sure you present yourself immaculately, both the way you dress and the way you speak; clearly, confidently and concisely.
Make sure you have a very good idea on what the company actually does and why you personally want to work in recruitment compared to other areas of work you have already experienced.

The interview was simply me and the interviewer sitting around a small table discussing my competences in relation to the job role for roughly 45mins.

After an initial phone interview, I was invited to their offices near Monument. There were questions about my CV and what I thought I could bring to the role. I then met with other senior figures within the company who asked general questions about my work background. The whole day was really informative, I was left with no questions about the role and as someone who has had few formal interviews, it was great experience for potential future interviews.

Where do you see yourself in the next three to five years?

I would advise anyone going for this role or something similar in recruitment that the role itself is not necessarily important. Recruiters will try and offer you other positions that are available, so remain firm on the position you applied for if that is the one you really want.

No Assessment Centre

The telephone interview made me feel very welcome, the recruiter made me feel as if I was able to talk about anything with her. She gave me a breakdown of the company but asked me questions throughout and explained I just had to be myself and I had more of a chance.
The workshop assessment itself however was very hard but very educational. Put us through the right practical tests in order to teach us but also to test us and see our true personalities.

Sell someone. We had to sell another candidate who was in the assessment centre alongside us. We had 2 minutes to plan and then present, this was very difficult and involved you needing to think on your feet.

Be yourself, they love it. It’s not a place where you need to put up a front or be someone you aren’t. The more your personality shined through, the better your chances are. Make sure you’re prepared, understand why you want it, be ready to sell yourself and explain your motivations and what really makes you tick!

There was a small group so they were able to focus more on us. The staff were very friendly, staff were in and out all day and we got to meet a variety of different people. Absolutely lovely individuals working there. Our tasks were to sell our fellow candidate, sell ourselves, interview the director and then have 1-1 interviews.

I arrived at the offices in London for a face to face interview for what I thought was a job with Buchanan Search. However it soon turned out that there wasn't actually a specific role I was applying for and in fact it wouldn't be with Buchanan Search at all. They were interviewing me to see if I would fit any roles that their current clients needed filling.
I was asked about my work history and my reasons for applying for this "job". I was asked how people might recruit candidates in this sector and how they might find a new client to work with. I was also asked how much money was a motivating factor in my choice of jobs. I didn't have to perform any tasks. The interviewer mainly boasted about how brilliant his company was and was very patronising.

I found all of the questions hard to answer once I realised that they were not based on one specific job. I was very confused as to why I wasn't being asked about myself and my work ethic.

Do not apply for this role if you are expecting to be interviewed for a graduate scheme role within the company Buchanan Search. They are interviewing you to see if they would like to put you forward for other roles within their clients companies. They are not interviewing you to work for them. If you are looking for a recruitment company to have you as a candidate on their books then this is right for you.

The offices were very modern and clean. I was interviewed in a meeting room, just me and the interviewer. The interview lasted barely 20 minutes.

It was a one on one where I was given a very short space of time to prove myself and make myself stand out amongst the other candidates.

I was asked why I wanted to be in recruitement, and why I felt I would be successful.

Apart from that it was just a genreal discussion about me on a personal level.

I had to make sure I tailored my answers to attributes needed for the job. Bringing in examples from my experience as shown on my CV.

It was brief with no tasks, just a conversation. A brief discussion of my CV and how I had gained more experience in this sector.

I had to really fight back to prove I had the skills to be successful in the role.

It felt quite brutal with no time for me to ask about the company itself.

If having a large family would affect my commitment to a job which required long hours.

Research what the recruitement industry is all about, what you have to do on a daily basis and the qualities that you need. Doing this illustrates to the interviewer just how serious you are.

I had no real experience in sales and so I went and got a job in telesales afterwards. This made my CV stand out even more.

Be on the ball, dont ease in slowly, hit the ground running with clear examples.

Most importantly show your ambition and awarness of the financial structure that you could be rewarded from in the future.

Resreach the different sectors the company is involved in so you can show you have an understanding of evcents which really drive the company and so you can prove you understanding the business areas and indeed international areas that you would be involved in.

I did not make it through to this stage

Applied online by sending my CV, about three days later I received a call and had a telephone interview. I was asked questions such as why I applied for this particular position, and what I had been doing since I graduated in June. I was also asked to describe a time where I demonstrated a strong work ethic and resilience as these are key characteristics of someone suitable for this role. At the end of the telephone call I was told that Buchanan Sachs didn’t hold assessment centre days and that I was invited to attend a face-to-face interview which would be two days after.

The face-to-face interview was very interesting and lasted about an hour and a half. I was surprised that I was not asked about my knowledge of the company at all, mainly about what other jobs I have applied to and whether I was competitive or not. I was also asked to describe what I would do in certain situations that I may find myself in, such as trying to get through to a director of a potential client on the phone. I was told from the onset that none of the other jobs I had applied to would be able to compete with the commission structure offered by this role. My interviewer was also trying to convince me that I would be more suited to a recruitment consultant role rather than an executive search consultant role – to which I disagreed as all my previous work experience was in fact in research (I wasn’t sure if they were only looking for recruitment consultants). The commissions structure of the company was also explained to me and I also discovered that the basic salary advertised was a lot higher than the one I would be offered.

The meeting concluded with an offer of arranging interviews with 4/5 directors of companies that same week for a recruitment consultant role not for an executive search consultant role. I was told that I had two hours to decide whether to proceed or not. I was also advised that these directors would try to deter me from wanting to be a recruitment consultant which I thought was rather strange. I decided not to take up the offer as there were some inconsistencies in the interview and I didn’t want to lie about wanting to become a recruitment consultant as this was not the role I wanted or applied for.

Why haven't you found a full time job yet as you graduated in June?

You have to be extremely money motived - basically you're sole reason for applying for such a role and talk about this throughout the entire interview.
Also have to be prepared to have a low basic salary and rely on commission.

There was no assessment centre - was told that the company didn't run an assessment day as it becomes more of a "shouting match".

Initially, I had a brief telephone conversation with a member of the recruitment team. This was to identify my reasons for applying for the job, why i'm interested in the role and my key competencies. I was then invited to a group interview. There was 11 of us at the group interview, all with a diverse range of degrees and experience. We started with an ice breaker to introduce ourselves, this was simply telling everyone our name, our degree and which University we studied at. Next we were split into pairs. Our task was to pick any item from the room and to effectively sell it as the new must have item for 2013, without selling it's original function. For example, a pen could not be sold as a writing implement. We were given a short time to do this. We then presented our item to the group as well as 2 of the companies employees. Our final task was individual. We had to prepare an individual oral presentation on 'why I am suitable for this role'. Again, we were only given a short amount of time to do this. We had to give our presentation to the group as well as to the founder of the company and some of the higher managers. We was also asked to give an interesting fact about ourselves.This presentation was to last no longer than 60 seconds. Afterwards we were told we would be contacted by 4pm in regards to whether or not we were successful.

The paired task was very difficult. Although, our idea wasn't important and it was our presentation skills that were, it was difficult to come up with an initial idea.

Make an effort to stand out from a large group, don't fade into the background.

In a group interview certain individuals do stand out more, meaning that it is harder for others to get noticed.