Recruitment Interview Questions & Answers

The initial telephone interview came out of the blue and i was notified that it would occur later that day with their internal recruiter. So i was given the time to do a quick research on the company, which was lucky as i couldn't remember applying or anything about them, and then had the interview lasted about 20 mins to half an hour. We discussed my current job and especially my sales techniques and how i keep myself motivated. A lot was made of what motivates me, one of the answers they wanted being money, and we discussed how my personal goals drive me to achieve.

What weakness do you have? Describe a time you had to give a colleague some honest critique. How did you go about it?

I would say to be extremely well prepared on competitors within the industry and be able to display your level of interest in such a career. There is a high turn over in the industry with people starting and failing in a short space of time, and so they want to make sure you know what it entails. Examples that show your resilience and also having examples of times you gave criticism will be key as a capacity for this is what they seek for in candidates. It was key to also follow the companies own interview tips that you can find on their website, one of these being to always ask them what you can do at the end of the interview what you can do for them as follow-up. This will really impress the interviewer and show your level of interest.

It wasn't an assessment centre as such but for the final interview it was a series of interviews with staff ranging from new recruiters to the executive director. There was also a lunch with a couple of recruiters to assess how personable you are. It was actually quite exhausting and entailed quite a bit of waiting around. It was a busy office and so this was understandable, but it was quite intense going from one interview to the next. Ultimately this lasted for a couple of hours. The questions were all along the same lines. What is your perception of the industry so far? What are your energy levels like on a scale of 1-10? Why do you want the job?

I spoke to a member of human resources for this company on two occasions. Her approach was very conversational which allowed me to relax into the interview. I was asked about my intentions concerning a career within recruitment, and quizzed on my knowledge of the industry. The conversation lasted about 20mins, and concluded with a promise of a follow up phone interview. I believe this initial phone call was to discern how serious I was about the position. The second phone call was more specific and asked e where I would like to work, what skills I would bring to the job and what I would expect from the company.

I was asked 'what are the chief challenges to the recruitment industry today?'

Prepare answers to common questions for that industry. Try a web search asking what are the likely interview questions for a job in recruitment and you will find a great deal of information.

I did not attend an assessment centre

I was interviewed by a senior member of the legal recruitment team, who previously worked in the city as a lawyer. He asked several key questions surrounding my ambitions to orogress, why their firm and the training that could be offered. It was a real challenge as the atmosphere was very intense and extensive preparation about the company is required. Mostly questions will be drawn from your CV yet I would recommend checking the culture of the firm as they are very corporate before arriving to see if it would be the correct fit.

What is the average day in the life of a 2 year qualified consultant with this firm?

Know your CV, understand the legal sector of recruitment and what makes it different, the legal sector is much more fast paced in a lot of regards and you need to be able to be comfortable conversing with some top performing people on the city, if you don't have the confidence to do that then this isn't the job for you, dress smart, have a good answer for exactly why London and this sector. This interview is very intense however with the correct preparation you can get through it! I was very nervous going in and I think they picked up on that but the conversation began to run smoothly after a while. It's just about being able to explain exactly why you want to do the role and being confident that you have the right personality to succeed.

A large majority of the interview consisted of competency based questions and questions such as: why London? What makes Taylor Root different etc.

We had information on what the day would consist of before arriving in order to prepare which had plenty of information and was very beneficial.

Firstly, we started the day of with a short presentation on LHi and what the job entailed.
Then, we had to choose a famous person who inspires us. We we're then given the opportunity to sell our famous person to the group and discuss why we felt that if there was the chance to only save one, who it would.
The second task was interviewing another candidate in the room, asking all the relevant questions and then selling them back to the managers where managers asked questions about why we felt they would be successful in the role.

Following this section the successful candidates (which narrowed down to 5) were then interviewed individually which lasted about 30-40 minutes.

Who inspires you. While this wouldn't normally be a difficult question, but as you have already just contributed towards the famous person debate on who should survive, you don't want to use that person again however they were the one which was at the top of my mind.

Don't be afraid to get involved in the group discussions as the ones who were not successful to the second part were the ones who remained queiter.
Although I wasn't successful in the role it was definitely a worth while experience and the firm seemed to genuinely care about each candidate and really guided me through the interview process.

There was two group tasks in the interview and the group consisted of about 9 people, 7 males and 2 females. The set up what in the conference room around the desk.

The phone interview was relatively simple, they ask questions about your experience and why you want to work in recruitment.

The interview lasted for around 10 -15 minutes. I was asked questions such as tell me about yourself, I was asked to take the recruiter through my CV, I was asked to give examples demonstrating that I was motivated and resilient and I was asked to explain why I was money motivated.

I received feedback immediately after and was invited to an assessment centre the following week.

The most difficult question was why you want to work in recruitment. They want you to have strong reasons and specific answers. Before the interview they provided a PDF document which basically told you want they want to hear. They want you to be money motivated and know what you want to do with the money and interested in career progression.

Read over all of the documents they send and if you're not given feedback after your phone interview ask for some as it gives you an idea what they are looking for in the assessment centre. Try to be confident or at least show that you are as the people that did in my assessment centre made it through to the next stage.

The assessment centre involved group tasks followed by a one on one interview if you are successful in the group stage.

The day lasted for around 3-4 hours. On my assessment day there were just over 10 people. Before you begin you are seated in a waiting area giving you time to get to know the other candidates. We were there for around 30 minutes longer than the time they said it would start. Eventually someone came through and took us to a room just off to the side.

They ask you to fill out a form and attach your cv to it. We watched a presentation about the company and the roles they recruit for. We were then asked to introduce our selves to everyone and give a fun fact about something other than ourselves.

One of the group tasks was to rate statements inividually then in groups of 3-4 come to an agreement on the ratings. I assume this was to test our negotiation and persuasion skills. Another of the tasks involved splitting into two and selling the person you are partnered with. You have to relay their experience and skills in relation to the role they are interested in. I think the people that performed best where those that really tried to sell the person instead of just giving information about them.

After a break, in a sort of x-factor like fashion they split the group and took half of us outside. When outside they told us we will not be making it to the next stage. I found this quite dramatic and it was unfortunate that I did not get to have a one to one interview to really sell myself. Overall the experience with graduate recruitment was OK, it was my first assessment centre and it's given me an idea of what to expect for future ones. Hopefully other assessment centres give you the opportunity to be assessed on a full range of activities not just what I thought were a few basic group tasks.

The interview process had five stages. This began with a 30 minute telephone conversation and then progressed onto a 45 minute long Skype call. After my application was progressed I made the first of three trips into Mayfair, London for face to face interviews. I met separately with four Managing Consultants and answered questions that mainly focused on conveying my personality to the interviewer. They were most concerned with establishing what I was like as a person, rather than determining if I would be able to do the job. Then, one week later, I met separately with the two directors of the company in a 90 minute interview that was very thorough. Finally, one week later, I returned to London to complete a 15 minute presentation about my knowledge of the recruitment industry and why I felt I was a credible candidate for this application process.

Tell us about the tasks you would expect to be conducting in your first month?
- There is very little information available on the intricacies of recruitment available online and therefore had I not done detailed preparation, I would have been stumped.

Dress in a navy suit and have a smart, professional haircut. Arrive 30 minutes early to establish where your interview will be (and grab a coffee for the nerves!). Read as much as is possible about the industry online beforehand. The trickiest questions were all industry specific.

Most importantly, however, is to be yourself. They are looking for a hard-working, honest, entrepreneurial minded individual and if you tick these criteria and give a good account of yourself on the day(s) you will be fine!

A beautiful, glass building in the centre of Mayfair. The interview was carried out in a very relaxed, informal manner and conveyed the laid back culture of the company despite the location of its offices.

MMA got in touch with me immediately after I sent my application to them through graduate-jobs.com, and an interview date was established for the following day. My interview covered all areas that I was anticipating with nothing "out of the blue" or unnecessary. My interviewer was friendly, engaging and professional.

A question based around giving an example of when I've shown commercialism in my life.

Preparation is without a doubt key! For the first round interview things are less formal and you mainly need to have good answers for: Why do you want to do a job like this? How are you suited to this job? Why do you want to work for us?
Be yourself and engage with the interviewer, ask him/ her questions also.
As the interviews progress they become more detailed. You will need to research the company well, essentially they're culture page, and any information that sets them out from the crowd.

Command tasks, presentations, tests and case studies.

Communication: Initial contact with the interviewer was via email after I had shown interest in the role a couple of weeks beforehand. I was then contacted by the recruiter who had viewed my CV and wanted to know whether recruitment was a career that I wanted to pursue. At the time I did not know a whole lot about recruiting. However, I said that I hadn't ruled it out and would research the role thoroughly and reply within the next working day if I would like to start the interview process officially.

Commute: On the day of the interview I woke up and got the earlier train to ensure that I was there on time (11 a.m). The journey itself took about an hour and a half but while commuting I made sure to think about whether this journey would be manageable on a daily basis (both time and cost of travelling)

The interview: I was met by a lovely employee who was very welcoming who escorted me to the conference room where the one on one meeting was held. She made a brief introduction of herself and her role in the company (She had only been working for 9 months herself). She then went on to ask about my education; grades, extra-curricular activities etc. After noticing a slight dip in grades in comparison to my others she very politely asked if there was a reason for this. I briefly told her of some personal matters that had affected my grades in my first year of college (to which she completely understood). Fortunately these discrepancies were dwarfed by my university grades and overall result. She then focused on my work history in chronological order and asked about the skills that I had attained in each job. I replied to what I thought that they would like to hear as a recruitment agency e.g. good customer service skills, time management, multitasking and building professional relationships.After she was satisfied with looking at my CV she was very sure to tell me about the workload and the stress that can come with the job. After doing my research previously I was already aware of the extremely competitive nature in the recruitment business so was not deterred by her warnings and understood that she had to make sure that I was not going to quit at the first sign of trouble.

The whole interview lasted approximately 30 minutes and was rounded off with her asking whether I had any questions to which I replied with my usual pre-prepared list of (what is the day to day life like?, what have people gone on to accomplish after this role etc.) After giving very detailed and insightful answers I was told that the next step would be to come in for a second interview after some more senior staff had a chance to look over my CV with the interviewer to see if I was a suitable candidate to carry on to the next stage of interviews.

Can you describe a scenario in your work that shows you have overcome an obstacle in your work?

What is your weakest trait?

Pre-interview:

- Know the company and what they do (more specifically what your role would be within the company) You can never do too much research!

- It's always better to over-dress than under-dress. If you happen to be far more formal than needed all that shows is that you care enough to put in the effort which is never a bad thing

- Plan your journey! If you don't know the route very well or have to rely on public transport, allow plenty of time in case you get lost/get stuck in traffic/get on the wrong train. Again, showing up early is never a bad sign!

- Look at your CV and extract skills that you have learnt over both your education and work experience and apply those relevant skills to the job you are applying for

Interview:

- Smile and have good posture and if you can, try and make small talk. It means you are relaxed in a work environment and not daunted by meeting new people (which is kind of crucial in a sales career)

If nothing else, just enjoy yourself. There is always the possibility that you may not get the job. The best thing to do is learn from it (get feedback if you can) and apply it to your future interviews

As a general tip for every interview it is always a nice touch to send an email to your interviewer after the interview (probably not as soon as you leave the door) saying thank you for their time and that you're looking forward to hearing from them.

N/A

The initial process was a phone interview with an Internal recruitment consultant who asjed generic questions such as why recruitment and what are my goals etc. Then I was invited to the office to meet the team manager but actually met 5 people in the process, it took a total of 3 hours, from trainee consultants to director of the company.
I was asked a few questions about the company and why would I lie to be a part of the team. I was also asked why recruitment with additional questions on what a recruitment consultant does. When I finally met the team manager he got me to speak in front of the new trainees to see if I could hold a conversation. He then asked me to sell him something and we did a role play. Finally the director of the company asked me more technical questions such as entrepreneurial questions and also selling technique.

You are locked in a room with a phone and a cv, the phone can only call numbers, on the cv you have the person's information and they're phone number. To get out the room you have to place that person into a job. You have no jobs to place them into, so you have to find one and then place them. How would you do it?

Ensure that you do enough research on the company and be prepared to do role plays. Thru talk a lot so you have to be able to hold a conversation with everyone that you meet because it could be from 2 people to 5 people.
I would also recommend you read a lot of different selling techniques because I was asked to sell 2 items to them by two different people. Try not be be nervous because they will use that against you. Eye contact and speaking clearly is also very essential, make sure that you are engaged with everyone you meet and approach them professionally. Every you meet asks you the sane questions so be prepared to repeat a lot and not sound frustrated.

I did not attend an assessment centre

First was an initial phone interview where I was challenged on my reasons for wanting the job and my skills and competencies. Other things discussed was my current situation (university, living arrangements etc). Then I was invited to attend the assessment day. Here, the day was composed of various stages and exercises. You had to pass each stage and you were assessed on each exercise on your abilities such as teamwork, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, communication etc. The final task was the last chance to really sell yourself to a small panel on why you should be chosen for the job.

Questions relating to the group exercise - reasons to back up your decisions made relating to the sample scenario.

Be absolutely realistic about the anticipated outcome. Don't get your hopes up too early (just because you pass the first few stages). You have to be incisive, punchy, and powerful from the second you start and you need to maintain this throughout. Be natural and take charge as soon as you get the chance to (group exercise!!) but not unprofessional where you end up shouting over everyone. Above all, you have to stand out, physically and verbally.

The first task was an elevator pitch where we had to introduce ourselves, our general background and most importantly why we want the job.

The second task was a paired exercise where we were required to question and converse with our partner on why they want the job, why they would be best suited to the job and also things to do with their general background, skills, competencies, education history etc. Our partner then had to do the same to us. Then we had to report back to the rest of the group. In essence, we had to effectively "sell" the individual we had a few minutes to learn about.

The third task was a group exercise where we were given a sample scenario and we had to effectively communicate with each other, work as a team, project our views etc to come to a final, group, informed decision.

The final task was a final chance to really sell yourself to a small panel. You had 20 minutes beforehand to prepare the 3 minute pitch. You had to really stamp out and emphasise why you should be given the job, how your skills, past jobs, past experiences relate to the job and why you would be best suited for it. The panel would then ask you questions. (In my case, they didn't ask me much!)

You had to PASS each stage.