If Theyre Not Currently Employed I Ask: Why Did You Leave Your Last Role
Finding out why someone left their last role tells a lot about the persons work performance and expectations. Red flags can already begin to emerge during this conversation, and it may help lead to more probing questions.
For example, if a candidate is looking for growth opportunities but hasnt sought project work or an increased workload in his or her current role, it may signal an unwillingness to work for a promotion while still expecting it.
Michele Anderson, 2+ years of recruiting experience, Twitter: @Ander_Michele1LKingwood, Texas
Final Thoughts: Interview Questions For Recruiters
Recruiting a recruiter is often more difficult because theyre familiar with the tactics and questions youll use. By leveraging situational interview questions, as well as general interview questions about their processes and tools, youll be able to discover which recruiters will be the best fit for your company.
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Further reading
Questions About Resume Items
72. Tell us about earning this certification youve listed.
73. Tell us what you did to earn this employee commendation.
74. Tell us what led to you earning this award.
75. Youve listed team management as a skill tell us about a time youve led your team.
76. What is your most important personal achievement you didnt list on your resume?
77. What is your proudest moment in your professional career to date?
78. What did you enjoy the most about your last job?
79. What did you enjoy the least about your last job?
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Top 3 Recruiter Interview Questions
At this point, you likely have a good idea about what it takes to create a winning strategy. So, that means we can move onto the recruiter interview questions and example answers.
These samples are designed to help you see how you can put the approach above to work. It lets you see the tips in action, giving you a framework for creating your own outstanding responses.
So, with that in mind, heres a look at the top three recruiter interview questions and example answers.
Are Additional Probing Questions Needed
If a candidates answers are vague, ambiguous, evasive, or dont fully address the question, ask follow-up questions triggered by the response.
Suggestions include: Im not quite sure I understood. Could you please tell me more about that? Im not sure what you mean by ___. Could you give me some examples? You mentioned ____. Could you tell me more about that? What stands out in your mind about that? Can you give me an example of ___? You just told me about ___ Id also like to know about . . .
Behavior-based interviewing isnt perfect, and its not a panacea for complex recruitment and retention challenges. Still, it is a tried and true methodology thats used by some of the worlds most successful companies.
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Behavioral Interview Questions To Ask Candidates
A resume offers a wealth of information into the professional history, skills and experience of a job applicant. However, this isnt everything that goes into making a person a great match for your open role and company. Culture and style vary widely from one company to the next, and a person who gave glowing performances with other companies may not be a great fit for yours. This is why businesses conduct interviews: to learn more about the habits, behaviors and work history of their candidates.
There are numerous ways to conduct an interview, but the most popular interview style consists of targeted behavioral interview questions. These questions invite the candidate to tell stories about their work history, which helps the interviewer learn about them. By selecting the proper behavioral-based interview questions, you can gain rich insight into the personal qualities of a potential recruit.
Tell Me About A Time When You Were Faced With Conflicting Priorities
Your time management and decision making skills are being evaluated by this question. Make sure you focus on the positive aspects of the situation. Dont go into the negative details.
Answer: My team and I were facing a deadline and my manager was out of the office. Our client was expecting a project to be delivered by 5:00 PM, and I could tell we werent going to make the deadline without making some changes.
I re-organized my own tasks so I could dedicate my entire day to focusing on this project. I took the lead and delegated tasks to the five team members in a way that would utilize everyones strengths best. By pitching in and reallocating work, we delivered the work to the client on-time. I also emailed our manager to let her know we had met the deadline.
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Asking Situational And Behavioral Questions In Job Interviews
One could argue that interviews are the most important stage in the hiring process. Up to that point, you really dont know much about the candidates youre considering. Youve only seen their resume and possibly had a quick phone or video interview with them.
Now you get to sit in the same room with your candidates and talk to them face-to-face. You have the opportunity to really get to know them and learn what they can do. Youll likely walk out of the room after each interview knowing whether or not the candidate is the person youre looking for.
Questions About The Recruiters Process
How does the recruiter fill job orders? Learn what methods they use and whether they offer new recruiting strategies. You want a recruiter who stands out from the crowd.
8. How has your recruiting process changed since you first started? Have you incorporated new tools to streamline your operations?
9. Tell me about your recruiting process, starting with receiving a job order and ending with the new hire being onboarded.
10. How do you find new clients? When you find new clients, do you work toward developing a lasting relationship with them?
11. Tell me about your candidate sourcing strategy. What do you find has the highest success rate of job placements? What platforms bring in the most applications?
12. How do you keep track of your candidate pool? Is there anything you can do to improve how you organize and handle candidates?
13. During the recruiting process, are you organized? Was there a time that disorganization led to a lost placement? How did you learn from that?
14. What are your favorite tools to use for keeping in touch with candidates and clients? Do you use applicant tracking or recruiting CRM software?
15. What can you improve about your recruiting process? What do you think is the strongest part of your recruiting process?
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Situational Interview Questions For Collaboration And Teamwork
- Describe a situation where you mentored a junior recruiter. What did you do and how you help them develop?
- Tell me about a situation where you needed to work with your team to fill a role. How did you collaborate? What was the outcome?
- Tell me about a time where you and a teammate had a disagreement. What steps did you take to resolve the issue?
- Tell me about a time where you worked with a difficult to please hiring manager. How did you ensure a functional working relationship?
- Tell me about your current job. How involved are the hiring managers in your recruiting process?
Tell Me About A Time One Of Your Candidates Didn’t Get The Job
This is a good question to verify a recruiter’s experience and philosophy. The hiring manager can discern from your answer if you act like a professional even when there is no expected commission. To answer, explain that your priority is to provide a reliable experience to all candidates.
Example:”When my candidates don’t get the job, I call them personally to tell them the news. I always take the time to share the client feedback and pinpoint what we can do better for the next interview. I think it’s important to update my candidates throughout the process and keep everybody informed.”
Related:21 Job Interview Tips: How to Make a Great Impression
Read Also: How To Answer Job Interview Questions
Final Round Interview Questions
Your attitude matters a lot — be upbeat and positive. Even 20% more than usual will go a long way in leaving a great impression on the interviewer.
Iâve noticed when I have fun during an interview, itâs much easier to engage with the other person and do well. You can get hired because of your personality, fit, and attitude, but will rarely get hired purely because of your technical abilities.
Especially with business-related internships and jobs, technical abilities are often seen as either pass or no pass — you need it to progress through the rounds. However, what really makes a candidate shine is their behaviorals.
While behavioral interview questions drive 40% of what it takes to pass an interview, most people spend < 5% of their time preparing for it. Donât be most people.
You now have all the tools you need to crush the behavioral interview!
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Tell Me About A Complicated Problem You Have Had To Deal With
The interviewer wants to understand how you go about solving complicated problems. In other words, how you identified or gained more understanding of that problem and what steps you took to resolve it.
Answer: Our customer service team was receiving an increased number of complaints about items arriving late. I reviewed our delivery schedule then met with the staff involved in the customer delivery process. What we discovered was that the delay was with our shipping provider. In speaking with the vendor, we came to the realization that there was nothing we could do to reduce shipping times.
I contacted two other vendors and asked for a quote and delivery estimates. After several weeks of negotiations, I finally recommended we change vendors which would guarantee delivery within 3 days. But this would also cost 3% more. We ultimately increased our pricing but also issued a guaranteed delivery date and all customer delivery complaints have stopped.
How To Nail A Behavioral Interview
Behavioral interviews focus on a candidates past experiences to assess how theyve navigated specific situations and utilized skills relevant to the position. Rather than asking theoretical How would you handle ___? questions, your interviewer will focus instead on concrete How did you handle ___? prompts.
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Every Interview And Every Hire Is Important
Asking the right questions can help you better evaluate your candidates and make the best hiring decision for your business.
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Use Of Open Ended Questions Not Closed Ended Questions
Most of the behavioral questions need to be open-ended. This encourages the candidates to open up and answer them in whatever way they feel fit. As compared to closed-ended questions, open-ended questions cannot be answered with a yes or a no and require inputs from the candidates. Such inputs usually help the interviewer gather information that can help evaluate a candidates mindset.
Some of the commonly used behavioral question that should be present in a well planned behavioral interview are included below:
- Ask them about how they would work effectively under pressure.
- Question them for mistakes they make at work and how they handle them.
- Ask them about their goals and aspirations at work.
More Behavioral Questions you can include in your behavioral interview:
- Ask them about decisions they make at work and how they handle their popularity or unpopularity.
- Ask them questions in relation to team participation and their role.
- You may also ask candidates about how they motivate subordinates or co-workers.
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The Advantages Of Behavioral Questions
Behavioral questions give you a good idea of what candidates have excelled and struggled with in the past. Situational questions allow them to craft their perfect response to your made up scenario but behavioral questions force them to share real experiences.
Many people who favor behavioral interview questions believe the way a candidate worked in the past signifies how theyll work in the future. That makes sense but these questions also help you learn what personal problems a candidate is working on improving. For example, a common behavioral interview question is, Tell me about a mistake you made in the past and what you learned from the experience. Here are some more you can ask:
- What professional accomplishments are you most proud of?
- Describe a time you werent happy with your work and why.
- Tell me about the best boss youve worked for?
- Tell me about a time you disagreed with a manager and how you handled it?
Interview Questions And Star Interviews
A typical interview would include questions in relation to the candidates experience history , qualifications , technical training , and finally, their aspirations and interests. Although these questions help you understand the candidate in general, they do not help evaluate the mindset and behavioral traits that the candidate may come with. In order to take a look at these traits, employers and recruiters resort to behavioral interview or S.T.A.R interviews as they are more commonly known within the recruitment industry. So, lets try and understand how behavioral interviews work and how asking the right S.T.A.R questions can help in selecting the right executives for your organization.
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Describe A Time When You Had To Adapt Quickly To A Change In Priorities
Regardless of whether a workplace is fast- or slow-paced, unexpected events can occur. Hiring managers want to know that you can shift gears quickly if the need arises, so they ask questions like this one to assess your agility.
EXAMPLE ANSWER:
As a member of my current employers IT department, COVID-19 required some quick pivoting. I was part of a team that managed remote work permissions and technologies for the organization. When it became clear that a shelter-in-place order may be on the horizon, we had to reprioritize quickly, ensuring we could get everyone their needed credentials, applications, and devices handled as fast as possible.
I spoke with my manager about my workload, allowing us to identify tasks that could be set aside temporarily. After that, prioritized the employee list based on their position, ensuring those who needed to stay connected were handled before those where a short delay wouldnt be as problematic.
