If you're a graduate looking to get into recruitment and need to get a feel for the kind of questions employers might ask at interview, then make sure you research these graduate recruitment interview questions below. These questions and answers are taken from real graduate interviews, and compiled to give you an idea of what to expect and how to prepare your answers.
Example Recruitment Interview Questions:
1. What is the most challenging aspect of working in recruitment?
Interviewer Expectation: This is a subjective thing and most recruiters will give you a different answer. Common answers will range from frustrating candidates to pernickety recruiters, or even too many candidates for too few jobs. Make sure that you describe why you would enjoy the challenging aspect of the job that you highlight, and any ways you can think of overcoming the challenges you may face.
Example Answer:(Situation) During my university's career fair, I volunteered to assist with student-employer interactions. (Task) I noticed that aligning students' expectations with employers' requirements was challenging. (Action) I facilitated discussions, helping both parties understand each other's perspectives. (Result) This experience taught me the importance of managing expectations, a skill crucial in recruitment.
2. What experiences during your academic career will benefit you in recruitment?
Interviewer Expectation: This is a typical question which you will be asked when applying for a role that does not fit in directly with your academic career. The best way to approach a question like this is to highlight skills that you have gained that the employer will be interested in. There are many transferable skills from studying at degree level inculding communication skills, analytical skills, writing skills and presentation skills.
Example Answer:(Situation) As a member of the university's debate society, I organised weekly sessions. (Task) I coordinated topics and managed participant schedules. (Action) This required clear communication and meticulous planning. (Result) These experiences honed my organisational and interpersonal skills, essential for a recruitment role.
3. Have you had any experience in sales?
Interviewer Expectation: Determining your persuasive abilities and client interaction experience. Many candidates will not have any experience in selling. If this is your then is will be a good idea to give an example when you have been in front of clients and have needed to use effective communication, have been particularly persuasive or have secured a deal or job due to good communication skills .
4. People often categorise recruitment with sales. What do you think about this?
Interviewer Expectation: At some companies, recruitment consultants and sales consultants are grouped together. There is a great deal of overlap in terms of the people that are desired. Both sales and recruitment offer a target-based and fast-paced working environment, and involve: client interaction, cold calling, fast progression and huge financial reward. Despite these similarities, they are two distinct industries, and an interviewer will expect you to understand and articulate this.
What your answer should include: You should understand that as a recruitment consultant, you will sell your services to clients. This will involve a lot of cold calling, and a lot of rejection. You’ll be selling opportunities and roles to candidates and even selling candidates back to clients.
Recruitment is more personable and more consultancy embedded than sales. It is 'individual'-driven rather than product-driven. Ensure you understand the key differences, and can explain why you have chosen recruitment over sales.
5. Give me an example of how you tried to persuade someone in a situation, but failed.
Interviewer Expectation: The interviewer wants to assess your communication, self-awareness, and ability to reflect and learn from failure. They’re not just focused on the outcome but how you handled the situation and what you took away from it.
Example Answer: "(Situation) In a university group project, I suggested using a new software tool I believed would make our data analysis more efficient. (Task) My aim was to convince the team to adopt this approach, as I had used it before with good results. (Action) I explained its benefits and showed a quick demo, but my teammates felt more comfortable using Excel, which they were familiar with. I didn’t push further to avoid conflict. (Result) We continued with Excel, and while the project went well, I realised I should have focused more on their concerns and found a compromise. I learned the importance of active listening when trying to persuade others."
6. What is your recruitment strategy?
Interviewer Expectations: the interviewer will want to know that you take the role seriously, and don’t just cut corners to make money. If you can find out how this company operates, then you can give an answer that references their practices.
Make sure to draw upon: Hitting KPIs and targets, making lots of calls, and being thorough in your research, telephone-screening, and admin. Being successful in recruitment all boils down to attitude and work ethic.
7. What is the biggest challenge facing recruiters today in the global market?
Interviewer Expectation: They want to see you have done your research into the recruitment market.
How to Answer: Your research into the recruitment industry should have provided you with a few answers for this question. Make sure that you mention the competitive and fast-paced nature of recruitment, which makes responding to new techniques and beating competition even more difficult. Also, for contingency recruiters, if they can't get placements for their clients, they don't get a fee.
8. Why do you want to be a recruitment consultant?
Interviewer Expectation: They expect honesty here. What motivates you, why and how.
Example Answer: Money needs to be a motivator for you, so ensure that you say so, and have evidence to back up this claim. As a recruitment consultant, commission, or prizes for high performance, will be the main ways that you are incentivised – if you aren’t motivated by money, then recruitment is not the career for you.
9. How would you construct your day as a recruiter?
Interviewer Expectation: The company want's to make sure you are able to stay organised and handle multiple tasks at once.
Example Answer: In recruitment, it is essential to keep on top of things; an organisation needs to know that you can keep yourself organised. Many recruiters block out specific times of the day for certain tasks, such as tackling their inbox, resourcing a role, writing a job specification, business development, or admin catch-up. Refer to previous ways of organising yourself (university, college, work experience), and explain how and why you would operate as a recruiter.
10. Why are you interested in a career in recruitment?
Interviewer Expectation: Understanding your motivation and alignment with the role.
Example Answer:(Situation) While assisting at the university's career centre, I enjoyed helping peers refine their CVs. (Task) I aimed to support them in securing opportunities. (Action) I provided guidance on applications and interview preparation. (Result) Seeing them succeed sparked my interest in recruitment, where I can facilitate such matches professionally.