Recruitment Interview Questions & Answers

Started in a group introduction where I had to do a 30 on the spot in "welcoming" of myself to the other candidates and interviewers.

Then a 3 min interview with the candidate next to me to then prepare a 1 min presentation about why they should get the job.

Then an exercise about what items to salvage from a sinking ship to survive at sea.

When I reached the next round of interviews, I had 20 mins to create a 3 minutre presentation on myself and why I would be perfect for recruitment and Las Fosse.

What is my inspiration to enter recruitment?

Try and be as personable, outspoken and yet measured as you can. Their business is built on a family-esque ethos so being friendly, cooperative and interesting is key. Also do your research; I did a tremendous amount of background research and that is what separated me from the other candidates, even though I did not get offered the job

See above

Initial telephone interview was first carried out, followed by an invitation to attend the assessment centre. Here, we did various exercises, first an elevator pitch, followed by a paired exercise, then a group exercise then a final individual pitch. The whole process from start to finish, lasted for just under 3 hours.

Those to do with the group exercise - where we were challenged on our decisions.

Be realistic about whether it would be best suited for the type of person you are, before agreeing to attend the assessment centre. It's simply not enough to have fantastic skills, abilities, talents, and good solid grades. You need to be able to really stand out from such a small group, physically and verbally.

N.B. You had to pass each stage to get to the next.

First task: had to briefly introduce ourselves, university, degree etc.

Second task: a paired exercise where we had to interview another individual and vice versa about some of their background, education, career aspirations etc. Then, we were required to present the individual we interviewed to the rest of the group.

Third task: a group exercise where we all had to work together to figure out how to overcome a given scenario.

Final stage: Given 20 minutes to prepare a 3 minute individual presentation as the final chance to really sell yourself (skills, abilities, ambitions, hobbies/interests, why you would be best suited for the job etc).

After applying for the recruitment consultant position online, I received a telephone call a few weeks later. It was a quick phone conversation, ultimately asking why recruitment and why the Allegis group in particular.

Following on from this, I was then asked to come to their office for a face to face interview. It was arranged for the following week and a comprehensive interview pack was sent over via email. It was extremely thorough and proved really helpful (it basically told you the dos and dont's if you want to impress and want the role). The member of the recruitment team was really supportive with any further questions or queries I had related to the interview.

The actual interview itself lasted a (record breaking for me) 4 hours, but it flew by! The structure followed a one to one with different employees of the Allegis group. I met about 5 different people in total and all were really lovely. They would each introduce themselves, their role and how they are finding it. They would then ask questions related to my CV, my extra curriculum activities and really try to understand you as a person - including your motivations.

Each person I was interviewed by had different interview tactics, so each experience was different and the difficulty of each interview was diverse. It was a really challenging, but good interview experience.

I was given a scenario and I had to work out what the best option/route to take would be, and to explain why i thought that. It required you to think quickly and be confident in your response. The interviewer was extremely positive though and was supportive in my answer.

Be prepared to really sell your strengths, whilst being yourself - but be realistic and honest. Really understand why you want to work in recruitment, and don't be afraid to say for the money! Learn about the company and research what you think working in recruitment will involve and how you would fit that role.
Follow and stick to the interview preparation pack, it is really helpful!

In my personal experience, there wasn't an assessment centre, but just a series of one to one interviews.

4 stage Interview processes

Stage 1 -Phone interview with internal recruiter, following the successful phone interview....

Stage 2 -I was invited to their London HQ for a face to face interview with their internal recruiter, we spoke about my CV, what I knew about recruitment and we did a role play.

Stage 3 -Assessment centre in Brighton, role plays again and we had to answer questions based on recruitment and the company.

Stage 4 -Face to face interview with the Regional Director at the office you will work from.

One question I found difficult as I can't really judge what the right answer is .. "Why Hays?"

Know what a recruiter does and for role plays ask good questions that will help. If you are selling candidate a service, ask questions before selling. Get them to tell you things and play off the things they tell you to sell.

Answer fact based questions about the company
Introduce yourself, describe your background, why recruitment and interesting facts about yourself.
Look at CV's and choose what candidate is best for a role and why.
Fake telephone call convincing a client to do business with you.

THe first interview was via the phone, asking why you want to go into recruitment and what motivates you. You're then given lots of information about the company which comes in use for the next stage- the Skype interview. This lasts about 30-40 minutes and covers all the main competency questions, who the company are and their background as well as digging through your CV.

Describe a time when you worked incredibly hard and still failed, and what did you take from it?
What makes a good company?

Really research the group and their different sectors- they take a lot of pride in their company. Have some ideas as to how recruitment firms find candidates. Have lots of questions prepared as each interviewer expects you to ask a number of questions.

The assessment centre lasted about 2 hours, and involved being sat in a room and being interviewed 1 on 1 by 4 members of the team. Each interviewer asks similar questions and tries to gauge you as a person- what drives you and why you think you would be a valuable memeber of their team. One interviewer in particular was very tenacious and asked a couple of abtract questions regarding the number of bricks in England. However all the interveiwers were friendly and were open to questions.