Recruitment Interview Questions & Answers

I had an interview with the internal recruiter after my assessment centre. I was asked why I chose their company and if I had applied elsewhere. I came back the following week for a telephone test and a few more interviews with my current manager and then the company director. I was asked about my commitment to the company

Why did I choose recruitment and not stick to a typical chemical engineering job?

Come in confident and ready to get stuck into the tasks. Try to quickly learn the names of the other trainees to make the tasks run more smoothly. Be smiley and yourself. Listen to the tasks carefully and keep an eye on the time to make sure you show your great time management skills. The telephone test might seem daunting but just talk on the phone as though you were talking to an old family friend.

I had an assessment centre with an introductory presentation and individual introductions followed by group tasks. The task I remember the most was pitching a fellow candidate to the rest of the group. Those who got through to the interview stage had an hour after the assessment centre to grab some lunch and then return for an interview.

I was invited to come in for an interview following an initial phone screening process. The interview was actually very relaxed. As soon as I walked in the man interviewing me was very pleasant and friendly. I was asked a series of questions. These included what my strengths and weaknesses were. He also asked why I wanted to work in recruitment. He further asked where I could see myself in 5 years informing me that the company liked for candidates to have serious goals (such as owning a property). He also asked me situational questions such as examples where I had to be competitive or overcome difficulties. I had to show what sort of skills I had that would be best suited to the role (one of the things I said was that I am a great listener which is good for building relationships). Overall, I felt very confident and relaxed.

"What is your main strength and weakness?" This was a difficult question because you have to figure out a weakness without making yourself seem like any less of an ideal candidate.

This company is very interested in a good level of experience. Although I had about a years worth of experience in retail this was cited as the main reason for not being offered the role. I was told that other candidates displayed that they were able to progress onto management roles. Therefore I would advise having a good level of experience before considering applying.

when I arrived at the office I was met by a friendly receptionist who directed me to sit in the waiting area. After about 10 minutes my interviewer came to meet me. It was a one on one interview so it was just us two. The interview took place in a small room. The interview lasted about 20 minutes conisting of various questions, the most notable of which are mentioned above. It was generally a good experience.

The interview was not as nerve racking as I initially thought it would be. I received a great reception from the interviewer. The questions were pretty straightforward and no trick questions were asked. It was a one to one interview, therefore, you feel a bit more at ease than when other candidates are present. which can sometimes cause you to be tense.

Not difficult, competency based questions. An example will be when was the last time you demonstrated resilience?

Stay calm and show interest in the organization so prep in advance and have questions ready to ask them. Also if you didn't understand a question rather than making a mistake just asked the interviewer to repeat it again. Better to answer correctly than not answering it right at all.

No assessment was carried out on that day.

The interview was conducted over the phone. The company responded to my job application on the date that the application was sent. The individual that I spoke to was very useful because they were very supportive throughout the application process and also went through my CV. They were attentive to my needs, for example the fact that I was working over the summer and they replied immediately after the phone call to arrange a meeting for the interview.

Where do you see yourself in the future, say in two to three years.

Phone interview, make sure that before you send a job application that you research the company, so that you know exactly what you're signing up for. This may sound stupid, but make sure that you know that you want this job because it gives you more of an incentive to work for the role.

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A fair bit of vague background knowledge was given via email, but very little as to what the morning would entail. As such I was told generic things such as 'Be prepared to explain where you see yourself ten years from now', and so on, despite most of it not being touched on in the group session. The morning involved a group exercise with approximately 18 candidates in total. First we were put into pairs and had to explain why your partner should get the job (in under a minute) which was a very interesting method and left me wondering how effective it was. Some partners for example simply didn't ask the right questions which didn't appear to be realised by the assessors, and so when a poor case was put forward I feel it was perhaps presumed that the partner who was being talked about simply wasn't well-suited. In our pairs we were then tasked with selling a generic product (for example, one option was 'a chocolate bar'), by putting a positive case forward for it. We had thirty seconds to do this in our pair. Both tasks were presented to assessors and the rest of the group. This ended the interview.

Selling an item was very difficult due to the extremely generic things people were given to sell ('a chair', 'a car') and the very limited timeframe that we were given (30 seconds) for two people to share.

Be prepared to enter a very sales-heavy interview. You'll need to not only sell yourself, but sell someone else and a random standard product. Practise your public speaking and your presentation skills so that you're not nervous. If you're not into the sales environment then this isn't for you at all.

It was a very business focussed atmosphere that started with a presentation from an executive that told us about the company's history and a brief description of the different roles in the company.

My initial telephone interview was very short. Having spoken to a very nice manager for this primarily IT oriented recruitment company for 15 minutes about why I think I would be a good recruiter, I was invited for a face-to-face interview at their office in London. Once there, I met with the same person who interviewed me over the phone. We talked about the company, the role I was interviewing for, and quickly drifted off topic into personal conversation. The "interview" lasted for about 1.5 hours during which I incorporated my past experiences to emphasize why I think I would be good for this position while a the same time keeping the conversation light and easy. The manager was impressed with my manner of speaking fluently and stepped out for 10 minutes to get a senior-manager who asked me some more direct questions including my language skills, why I would be suited for the role, what I have done in the past to communicate with people and what expectations I have of Templeton. Having interviewed on a Thursday I was invited to return on Monday for a final informal meeting with the owners. However, Monday past and I did not hear from Templeton until Wednesday when I was told that the owners, on Monday, decided to restructure the company and are not taking on any graduates at the time.

The interview with Templeton was the most informal interview I had ever attended with no difficult questions being asked. The managers did not expect you to know about the companies history or philosophy but rather only seemed interested in how comfortable you are holding a conversation with people you've never met before.

Templeton are looking for motivated and easy going people. A professional,friendly and approachable manner seem to be the main characteristics Templeton and Partners desire.

The company itself seemed rather small and the interview took place in a very small room 3 floors below the actual office space. The whole building appeared to be under renovation and the 12 employees were casually walking around with their wireless headsets. With a goal of breaking out of the UK recruitment market, Templeton employees spoke only English. I was told that my language skills, specifically German are of interest as they want to expand into the German market.

There was an initial phone interview, which I wasn't aware of as I only rang back for further details. It was a graduate recruitment member of their team and lasted about 25 minutes. About why I would be good at the job, what my strengths are, what qualities I think an individual in recruitment should possess and where I see myself in the future including the most important factors to myself. This was followed by feedback and an invitation to the group exercise/interviews the following day.

There were a large group of graduates, we each stood up to introduce ourselves. Then were put into groups where we had to try an exercise to influence the others to our point of view and evaluate how well we had done.
Then each graduate had to stand up for a 1 minute debate on a given subject.
After this step some were asked to leave as they hadn't been successful.
After this there was a interview with a panel of two interviewers.
Then feedback on the interview, and finally questions on where I want to be within the sector and finally I was invited back next week for a training day.

Out of everyone here, why are you the best for recruitment and what marks you out as different?

Be confident, don't be intimidated by the other candidates because in all likelihood, never mind how good they seem, you equally managed to get to that step so you are just as good, if not better, than everyone else. Believe in yourself and remember it does not matter what others think of you, just be yourself.

Described above.

Initially I was contacted on the phone by a Manager at Eurostaff. they were interested in me based on my European language skills (German, French, English) as well as my diverse academic background (European Studies). The interview lasted about 30 minutes during which I was asked about my reasons for wanting to join a recruitment company and how I think I would be suited for the job. Having said that I sounded very confident and engaging (I did some research on Eurostaff, which always helps) I was invited to an interview at their London Headquarters a week later. The face-to-face interview with a different manager than the one undertaking the previous phone interview lasted for about an hour. We discussed my CV, my ambitions and what I thought a recruitment position required as well as financial matters. Since Eurostaff are a recruitment company focused on recruiting talent from European countries to join clients in the UK, they explained their company structure and the way they usually go about recruiting, as well as the level of targets they tend to set themselves (in my case they were looking for someone to recruit upper management from the financial sector in Germany and other German speaking countries.) A day later I was invited to meet the senior management staff which, unfortunately, never took place as we could never agree on a set time.

Having never worked in recruitment before, the most difficult question concerned my expectations i.e. "How many people do you think you will, on average, recruit in a month?"

Also, "what traits do you think a recruiter should have at Eurostaff." This question required knowledge not only of the recruitment process, but also what the Eurostaff environment looks like and how I thought I would fit in.

Thankfully no generic interview questions like "describe a mistake you made and how you dealt with it" were asked. Eurostaff focuses on the individual and the recruitment process rather than generic interviewing.

I have learned that recruitment companies are very good at selling themselves and often promise things they cannot keep. Unfortunately Eurostaff withdrew their interest after stringing interview dates with senior managers along for three weeks even though they showed fantastic interest in me during the initial face-to-face interview. Be prepared for setbacks and do not be afraid to ask directly how serious they are about strengthening their team.

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First telephone interview with an account director. This lasted about 45 minutes and he described a lot about the company and role, the role is more like succession planning than immediate vacancy filling. We talked about my Cv and experiences which made me suitable and what I liked about the role eg. Client contact, research and long relationships rather than filling jobs day by day. I asked quite a lot of questions which I think he liked and he said he would contact me for a face to face interview

The face to face interview was scheduled about a week later. There wasn't any predatory work and joining the original account director was the London MD and a senior researcher,one up from the position applied for. They told me more about the company's history and some of what the accounts were like. They described how it feels to work there. They were very open about the company and let me know how they get around problems, how they dress in the office, the culture, going home times, everything. It was definitely not a test type situation and felt very relaxed, especially as we held the interview in a coffee shop as their office was being done.

The office is in an amazing location in soho, the dress is formal but they have a less formal environment. The company is quite small but I get the impression they would like to expand a little.

They asked me things like: when have you had to do report writing in a non academic sense, when have you had to research non academically, how did you do that using a specific example, what was your dissertation topic etc. they took quite a lot of interest in finding out about my skills. No personality questions like what are your hobbies, but they did seem really keen on personality as a factor.

Quite specific tomy degree, but they asked if I would be comfortable calling execs in China and speaking with them in Chinese about their job experience and prospects. This was only difficult as it is hrd to know exactly how easy that would be until I have had some experience.

No other questions were too difficult, it was very relaxed. The only thing is that they are very keen to make sure that the interviewee is really eager for the job and wants to do it.

After the second interview I realised the role wasn't right for me and I wouldn't take it if they offered, which I felt that they might. I let them know and they were fine with it, they want someone who is interested in the role.

Be relaxed and friendly as they are very nice.

No assessment centre

I was contacted two days before the interview by email to let me know that I would be required to complete and telephone interview to assess my personality and skills.
The interviewer said I could have some preparation material which I found very useful.
It didn't feel like an interview it was quite informal and I felt nervous at first but I was soon at ease and thought my personality came across well.

To describe myself in three words. It is hard to choose three words on the spot which encompass my personality

If there is an opportunity to receive pre interview preparation material take it and prepare as much as you can. It makes the interview less nerve wracking. It allows clear focused answers as I tend to babble when nervous.

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