The designation “recruiter” is self-explanatory. Recruiters work with the human resource department of a company to scrutinize, interview, and hire personnel for a particular job.
Technically, recruiters are expected to study a company’s plans and objectives and then interview and hire people who meet those requirements.
They discuss a company’s need for personnel with managers and determine applicant requirements. They create job advertisements to attract applicants and contact other recruiters using job sites and newsgroups.
Recruiters determine applicants’ qualifications by interviewing them. They are expected to analyze responses, compare job descriptions with qualifications, and verify references.
It is the job of a recruiter to ensure that a manager is aware of the criteria and eligibility of applicants being interviewed so that valuable input can be managed. Recruiters also develop and implement strategic initiatives for interviewing and hiring the right candidates.
Recruiters play a pivotal role in an organization as they perform duties that are focused primarily on the staffing needs of a company. They work closely with hiring managers and the human resource department to ensure that only the right candidates are interviewed and hired.
If you are in the process of preparing an interview for the position of a recruiter, the following interview questions (and potential answers you would like to hear) should help you prepare yourself.
15 Common Recruiter Interview Questions and Answers
1. What made you decide to pursue a career as a recruiter?
Personality analysis is my forte. I like interacting with people and attempting to judge just how they will perform in a professional environment. More often than not, I have been successful in hiring the right person for the right position!
2. What is your greatest strength as a recruiter?
I can work extremely well in a high-volume environment. If I have a full day of interviews, I know just how to manage them so that I do not get physically or mentally exhausted and end up muddling an interview. Also, I know my limit which is why I am usually successful in all endeavors I undertake.
3. What do you feel is the best way of assessing a candidate for a position?
If you are aware of what the company wants in an employee, there is never a problem in choosing one. I read and discuss the job description provided to me in great detail. I also ensure that I have read and understood the company’s policies and procedures. As soon as I come across a candidate who fulfills the company’s criteria, I know I have the right person.
4. Have you ever had to break a company’s rule to hire someone?
Never! This type of action can pose serious consequences. I work to provide companies with what they want without compromising on their rules.
5. What do you feel is the direct consequence of a recruiter’s job?
A wrong decision! While I take great pains to ensure that the person I have hired is workable for a company, sometimes it backfires. While I don’t mull over my decision to hire such a person, I believe it can be a serious letdown to a company and me too. Having to start all over again is quite dreadful.
6. During the time that you have worked as a recruiter, what have you discovered as the most difficult thing to do?
I wouldn’t coin it difficult but judging people by what they say (and deciding whether they are telling the truth or not) is challenging.
7. How do you handle the judgment part?
While judging completely isn’t possible, I do cross-check what they have said to what they have done or can do. This procedure helps me decide what their potential is and how best it can be utilized according to the companies’ requirements.
8. As a recruiter, what have been your core duties in the past?
Sourcing, screening, interviewing, and referring candidates to companies’ hiring managers, developing effective relationships with placement agencies and external recruiters, ensuring compliance with legal aspects of recruiting and promoting member organizations as employers of choice have all been part of my core duties as a recruiter.
9. What specific skills does one require to work as a good recruiter?
The ability to judge applicants, consultative skills, counseling abilities, ability to quickly and effectively build relationships, broad knowledge of human resource concepts and processes, and use of applicant tracking systems are all important if you want to work as a good recruiter.
10. Tell us of 5 daily responsibilities that you perform particularly in this role?
Sourcing candidates, working on ATS, interviewing over the telephone, working with hiring managers and developing strategic recruitment plans is all in a day’s work for me.
11. How do you feel about working in an environment that can be best described as a “union environment”?
Working with people has always been my strong point. Call it a union or a team environment; I believe that it is important to work harmoniously with people, as you are in constant touch with them throughout the day.
12. Have you ever been in a position where your decision to hire someone backfired?
There was a time when a person I had hired happened to have a dark background, which despite several thorough background checks, I was unable to determine initially. The problem arose when he physically abused a colleague of his, and it was discovered that he has a convicted felon. That put me in a spot as I was responsible for making sure that background checks were properly managed before hiring someone.
13. What did you do to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again?
This was a lesson well-learned. After this, I took greater pains to handle background checks to ensure that something like this didn’t happen again.
14. To work as a recruiter, what soft skills does one require?
Self-motivation, emotional intelligence, integrity, excellent customer service standards, and detail-orientation are some critical soft skills that one needs to work as a recruiter.
15. How do you make sure that your hiring efforts are consistently fruitful?
Developing and implementing strategies and initiatives designed to drive the overall talent acquisition process, quality of hiring and time-to-fill goals is a surefire way of ensuring that hiring efforts are consistently fruitful.