How To Prepare For An Interview With A Recruiter

Plan Your Time And Agenda

If possible, clear your schedule at least 15 minutes before and after each interview. Its best not to leave candidates waiting while you finish up a meeting, or having to rush them out if you have a meeting right after the interview. Giving them time and your full attention is more likely to earn their respect. If youre doing a video interview, check your laptop, camera and microphone a few minutes before the interview so youll have time to correct any possible issues.

Also, plan a rough agenda for the interview. Completely unstructured interviews, where the interviewer improvises, are not effective. By having an agenda, youll be able to guide the discussion more efficiently and make sure you wont forget to cover any important topics.

Determine how youll open the discussion and how youll close. Many interviewers make small talk at the beginning but this may introduce bias that will affect how you rate candidates answers. It could be useful to standardize the opening small talk questions as an effort to make your hiring more effective. Another approach would be to begin by introducing yourself and talking about a test or assessment candidates took as part of your hiring process. For example, if your candidates for an Editor role were given an editing exercise, ask them what they thought of it and discuss their performance.

Familiarize Yourself With The Platform

Whether it’s Google Meet, Skype, or Zoom, take the time to familiarize yourself with the video interview platform that youll be using. If youre unsure which platform the employer uses, feel free to ask your recruiter this when they’re outlining next steps to you.

I recommend connecting with a friend or family member to get feedback on your audio and video quality to ensure youll be presenting yourself as intended. Doing this on the same day of your interview can help you feel more confident so youre able to communicate effectively during the interview.

Taking the interview on a laptop or desktop is preferred, but if those are unavailable, your phone or tablet can be effective tools as well. If you do use your phone or tablet, find an area that has stable internet access as these devices are more susceptible to technical difficulties. If youre concerned about technical difficulties, reach out to your recruiter while the interview is being scheduled to ask who you should contact in case those difficulties arise.

Good Questions To Ask Recruiters

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If youre looking for questions to ask recruiters, youve come to the right place.

After working as a recruiter for 6+ years, Im going to share the 9 best questions to ask a recruiter in a first conversation.

Ill also give you my best tips on how to ask them about salary.

Asking these questions will help you make a great first impression, but will also give you important information about the opportunity youre discussing, and help you make sure the recruiter can be trusted!

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Whats Your Ideal Next Role

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Knowing exactly what youre looking for helps recruiters understand whether your ambitions align with available opportunities. The clearer you are about what you want, the more likely youll come to mind for relevant opportunities.

Savvy recruiters want to understand your goals before they disclose the specific role theyre trying to fill so they dont influence your response. We look for people to tell us their career plans match the position we have available beforetelling them about our career opportunity, says Kathleen Steffey, CEO of Naviga Recruiting & Executive Search. We never fit a round peg in a square hole. It just doesnt work long term.

Kristina McDougall, Founder and Principal at Artemis Canada agrees. Before we describe the role were recruiting for, we want to understand how the individual defines the company and role where theyll be happiest and most successful.

Tip: Be clear about what youre looking for in your next job, including your location, industry, function, company, and role preference. The more specific you can be, the better.

Overlooking What You Post On Social Media

We all saw the disaster of the NASA intern who swore at a former NASA engineer on Twitter and subsequently lost her position. It should be a rule of thumb to avoid crude, offensive or sensitive posts about your interviewing process during your job search.

“Posting about the interview, especially about interviewers, can be seen as a lack of confidentiality or professionalism,” said Michelle Merritt, managing partner at Merrfeld Career Management.

Better yet, remain professional on social media at all times, not just while you’re applying to jobs. A professional and polished online presence is important regardless of your career stage.

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Suit Up For Skype Interviews

If youre being interviewed over Skype, then approach it in the same way you would a regular face-to-face interview, even down to the way you dress. You might think that the atmosphere will be more relaxed, but Graham Oates, CEO of Norrie Johnston Recruitment, an executive search and interim management agency that frequently uses Skype, says this isnt necessarily the case.

Dont attempt to just be smart from the waist up, assuming the interviewer will only see the top half of your body. Ive been in plenty of Skype interview situations where the candidate has had to stand up. So, dress as if you were going to an in-person interview. In any event, you will feel and look more professional.

So much of an interview is about interaction, maintaining eye contact and facial expression. The technology can compromise these if you arent careful, so remember to look at the camera, not the screen that way the interviewer will feel you are maintaining eye contact. Smile and have an engaged and pleasant facial expression try to forget you are talking to a computer screen and imagine the interviewer being physically in the room with you.

Looking for more interview tips and advice? Heres some further reading to make sure you really nail things on the big day:

• Following up after an interview: how should you do it?

To find out more about careers at Gazprom M& T, please visit our homepage.

What Does A Recruiter Do

A recruiter helps businesses find qualified candidates for open job positions. They aim to support and balance the needs of the employer and the job candidate throughout the interviewing and hiring process.

Recruiters are responsible for the talent acquisition process, but they don’t make final hiring decisions. Ultimately, a recruiter’s loyalty belongs to the company whose vacancy they are trying to fill and not the person seeking employment, but they do have an incentive to get candidates hired and jobs filled.

Working with a recruiter can be beneficial for you, too:

• Recruiters can save you time compared to searching for jobs on your own

• They can widen your network to connect you with jobs and employers you might not find on your own

• They can offer advice to help you through the interviewing and hiring process

• They may consolidate your information, such as background checks and skills testing, to speed up the screening process for multiple open positions

• They manage the job offer process and can help you steer your negotiations

• They are on hand during your onboarding to ensure a smooth transition

• Most importantly, they can offer feedback to help in the future even if you don’t receive a job offer

Related:

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Tell Me How You’re Building Your Personal Brand And Why That’s Important

These days, it isnt enough to simply post jobs or InMail qualified candidates and be done with it. Recruiters need to start building relationships with prospects digitally, making it easier to source positions later.

Its essential that a recruiter have a strong LinkedIn profile, as this can make or break a first impression. Ideally, they also use LinkedIn as a way to share content, join groups, and participate in conversations showing they understand the importance of a compelling personal brand.

The same goes for other social media platforms. While a recruiting candidate with little-to-no professional social media presence outside of LinkedIn shouldnt necessarily be disqualified, its worth paying attention to those that get social media and use it to their full advantage.

Mistakes To Avoid As An Interviewer

Job candidates sometimes forget that it is often just as stressful being on the other side of the process. Interviewers and hiring managers have the pressure of finding a candidate who can perform the duties of the job, mesh with the company culture, want the salary the job offers, and meet many other important criteria.

As such, interviewers can mess up too. Here are some of the most common mistakes interviewers make and how you can avoid them.

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Prepare To Talk About Specific Accomplishments

Most people go into their interview and make general statements and talk in very general terms. To set yourself apart, you want to prepare specific examples and talk about DETAILS. Facts, numbers and real accomplishments.

Hint: this is true on your resume also. Youll get far more interviews if you cram your resume with facts, figures and statistics instead of general statements like responsible for handling customer requests.

So when the hiring manager asks what you accomplished in your last job, or what you do each day, you should be ready to impress! This is not the time to hesitate or be unsure. Prepare ahead of time for this.

If youre looking for your first job without any work experience, then think about accomplishments in your academic career classes youve taken, projects youve completed, etc. Thats your most relevant experience!

How Do You Use Data In Your Work As A Recruiter

Metrics can provide critical insight into how you can better your recruiting strategy, so failing to use data is a big no-no! Talk about the type of metrics you track, like KPIs, and how you utilize them in your recruiting strategy to find the best candidates and help make every recruitment a success. I wrote a post about Recruiting metrics worth mentioning .

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Offer Best Practices For The Real Interview

Recruiters are very familiar with how the interview process works and offer job seekers several tips on presenting themselves as top candidates. They can coach the candidate about how they can prepare for the interview, such as by studying specific parts of the companys website that they will likely ask about or reviewing common interview questions in advance to practice how they would respond to them during the job interview.

A recruiter can offer strategies a candidate can use to prepare for and do well during the interview, including how to:

• Review corporate website directories and LinkedIn profiles for the people they will meet during the interview process to understand their job roles and backgrounds so they can personalize their answers and questions
• Highlight the most relevant experiences and skills on their resume
• Wear appropriate attire for the interview
• Approach questions they may not know the answer to
• Prepare for and succeed in a virtual or in-person interview
• Avoid specific answers or phrases during an interview
• Ask the interviewer questions that demonstrate they are interested in working for the company
• Follow up with the hiring team afterward

What To Expect During A Screening Interview

You can expect the following things during a screening interview:

• Timing: After applying for a job, you can expect the screening interview in the initial stage of the hiring process. For example, its likely to occur after you send your job application and before youre called for an in-depth interview with the hiring manager.
• Setting: There can be several settings in which this event can take place. For example, you can be interviewed via phone, video conference, during a face-to-face meeting at the employers premises, or through an informal interview in a casual setting.
• Duration: This recruitment event usually includes a relatively brief meeting when compared to the second and third interviews that are held in the later stages of the hiring process.
• Interview questions: You can expect to be asked several questions at the screening interview. These questions are likely to be preliminary ones that focus mainly on your interest in the job, your qualifications that match the key criteria in the listing, and logistics.
• Interviewer: Unlike the interviews that take place during the later stages of a process of recruitment, youre likely to be interviewed by a junior representative of the hiring manager who does not have the power to choose to hire you. However, remember that your interviewers decision on your performance matters because the hiring manager will use it to decide whether or not to move your application forward to the next round.

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What Questions To Ask During An Interview With A Recruiter

Interviews with recruiters are more than just an opportunity to share your experience, knowledge, skills, and interest in the company. They are also an opportunity to vet the company and see if it is somewhere you can see yourself working. With this in mind, you want to come prepared with questions for the recruiter.

Avoid the mistake of crafting questions for the sake of simply asking questions. Instead, think about what you truly want to know about the company, culture, and position. Then, develop questions that address your genuine interests. The following are a few questions to serve as an inspiration.

• Why did you decide to work for this company over a competitor?
• What professional development opportunities are available to employees?
• How does your organization support work/life balance?

This article I wrote for Forbes includes additional questions to ask during an interview to stand out. I hope they serve as inspiration as you determine what questions to ask at the of your interview with a recruiter. Again, focus on asking the interviewer questions that genuinely pique your interest.

Remember The Interview Starts As Soon As You Leave The House

The interview starts long before you shake hands and sit down around the table. You never know who you might bump into as you get off your bus or train , or enter the companys building for all you know, your interviewer could be in the same coffee-bar queue as you. So make sure you project a friendly, confident, professional air from the moment you set off.

Doubtless youll have made sure you arrive early. Give yourself time to have a comfort break and make sure youre hydrated. Make conversation with the receptionist, switch off your phone and take in your surroundings you might notice something that will make a useful small-talk topic later. Dont try and cram in any last-minute facts you want to come across as calm and organised, not flustered and under-prepared.

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Tell Them About Yourself

Most interviewers give you an opportunity to tell them about yourself. You should answer by telling them about your most recent professional accomplishments leading back to your academic studies or extracurricular contributions in college unless they ask you specifically to start with college and move forward to the present.

Recruiters aren’t looking for a personal recitation of who you are in general, but rather what you’ve achieved, what inspires you professionally and your career goals, including your progress toward them. It’s helpful to use this portion of the interview to focus on what youre most proud of and passionate about. Doing so gives your recruiter some insight into whether your personality fits the role and the company culture.

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A Little Interview Preparation Goes A Long Way

Your resume is what get’s you the interview. But your interview is what gets you the job. You should expect that there are at least three other candidates you need to beat. But more likely you will be competing against 10 others in first round interviews. Second place doesn’t get you the job offer. But a little interview preparation is where you can make a difference.

If you find this information out before the interview you will have an unfair advantage. Don’t make silly interview mistakes – use an interview checklist.

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Proven Interview Tips From Recruitment Experts

In need of some interview insights before your next face-to-face?These eight essentials are here to help you out.

As someone looking to make the move into a new role, its perhaps easy to view job interviews as an inconvenience, or worse, something designed to purposely trip you up on your way to your next job.

Weve all heard the horror stories of interviews gone wrong that can end up shaking your nerves a fair bit. But with the right preparation, a job interview can turn into a relaxed conversation rather than the arduous test of resolve and character many believe it to be.

With the help of a variety of recruitment experts, well present eight interview tips that are proven to work. During your preparation, keep these essentials in mind they could well be the difference maker between you and your fellow candidates.

Focus On Your Achievements

“Be able to comment on your figures and explain your commercial approach. Always think about specific examples to help illustrate your point.”- Cecilia, Recruiter in France

In the interview, focus on telling us about your achievements rather than just skills. This is a great way to make you stand out and it gives us a deeper insight into your capabilities and talents! – Sara, Recruiter in Germany

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Learn The Interviewers Name And Use It

Im horrible at remembering names. I always have been. So if I can do this, you can too

When you hear someones name, repeat it to yourself in your head once or twice IMMEDIATELY after you shake hands. This helps you remember it.

Most of the time, if you forget someones name, its because you never really got it. Immediately after you heard it, you forgot. So this is how to remember.

Then, use it in the conversation within the first 5-10 minutes of the interview. Now youll never forget it.

Theres another benefit to this too using someones name helps you build a bond with them and build trust. Studies have shown you seem more confident, competent and impressive when you say someones name when talking to them.

Go talk to the CEO in your company, and I bet theyll use your name in the conversation. Leaders do this. Successful people do this.

This is a very under-rated tip for interview success that anyone can do. It just takes effort.

You will build a stronger bond/rapport with the interviewer if you do this, and theyll be more likely to remember you favorably and hire you.