Recruitment Interview Questions & Answers

In my initial phone interview they wanted to make sure I knew what the role was and was comfortable doing it. They asked questions like would you be able to support yourself on 16-18k the first year in a new place (ie. Bristol). They didn't want people dropping out as they couldn't afford to live. They wanted evidence of self motivation, happy to work in an individual role, evidence that you are money motivated. Not so much asking for experience, but when we were talking about the role as in why I applied I would say certain things and they would go "Ahh so you are self motivated!" "Ahh so you are money motivated!" etc..

The most difficult question would probably be in one of the tasks when doing a mock exercise as a recruitment consultant the intimidating mock client when told that we had a wider range of graduates than our competitors, announced he was in talks with recruitment businesses just as big and professional as us, what makes us stand out? As we had not started a career as Recruitment Consultants yet, our team was a bit stumped how to answer this and we were only able to offer whimsical suggestions.

Be really confidant straight away, talk to the other guys who are interviewing with you, don't see them as competitors. It's an interview, but also a great chance to social network with people interested in the same career as you. I have stayed in touch with four people from my interview and we have all tried to let each other know about jobs that are available. If you are moving to a new city it's a great way to meet people as well! From a purely interview perspective then the people you are speaking to may be doing the tasks with later, it's to your advantageous to already have a rapport in order to do tasks!

As much as it is not about the facts they give you for tasks, rather how you approach people, make sure you pick up the key tasks! There is nothing worse than when they ask you where a graduate works and you guess London! (Even if it is London!)

In groups of three we had to sell ourselves to a company looking for 5 graduates to use us and then see if there were any deals e can do ie. use us permanently or get a higher price.

The next task was individual where we met with a graduate and tried to convince them to take a job.

The next task was in groups of three again and it was doing problem solving, so hard issues by clients and graduates came up, played by the interviewers, that we had to deal with them accordingly.

A fair bit of vague background knowledge was given via email, but very little as to what the morning would entail. As such I was told generic things such as 'Be prepared to explain where you see yourself ten years from now', and so on, despite most of it not being touched on in the group session. The morning involved a group exercise with approximately 18 candidates in total. First we were put into pairs and had to explain why your partner should get the job (in under a minute) which was a very interesting method and left me wondering how effective it was. Some partners for example simply didn't ask the right questions which didn't appear to be realised by the assessors, and so when a poor case was put forward I feel it was perhaps presumed that the partner who was being talked about simply wasn't well-suited. In our pairs we were then tasked with selling a generic product (for example, one option was 'a chocolate bar'), by putting a positive case forward for it. We had thirty seconds to do this in our pair. Both tasks were presented to assessors and the rest of the group. This ended the interview.

Selling an item was very difficult due to the extremely generic things people were given to sell ('a chair', 'a car') and the very limited timeframe that we were given (30 seconds) for two people to share.

Be prepared to enter a very sales-heavy interview. You'll need to not only sell yourself, but sell someone else and a random standard product. Practise your public speaking and your presentation skills so that you're not nervous. If you're not into the sales environment then this isn't for you at all.

It was a very business focussed atmosphere that started with a presentation from an executive that told us about the company's history and a brief description of the different roles in the company.

The initial telephone interview came out of the blue and i was notified that it would occur later that day with their internal recruiter. So i was given the time to do a quick research on the company, which was lucky as i couldn't remember applying or anything about them, and then had the interview lasted about 20 mins to half an hour. We discussed my current job and especially my sales techniques and how i keep myself motivated. A lot was made of what motivates me, one of the answers they wanted being money, and we discussed how my personal goals drive me to achieve.

What weakness do you have? Describe a time you had to give a colleague some honest critique. How did you go about it?

I would say to be extremely well prepared on competitors within the industry and be able to display your level of interest in such a career. There is a high turn over in the industry with people starting and failing in a short space of time, and so they want to make sure you know what it entails. Examples that show your resilience and also having examples of times you gave criticism will be key as a capacity for this is what they seek for in candidates. It was key to also follow the companies own interview tips that you can find on their website, one of these being to always ask them what you can do at the end of the interview what you can do for them as follow-up. This will really impress the interviewer and show your level of interest.

It wasn't an assessment centre as such but for the final interview it was a series of interviews with staff ranging from new recruiters to the executive director. There was also a lunch with a couple of recruiters to assess how personable you are. It was actually quite exhausting and entailed quite a bit of waiting around. It was a busy office and so this was understandable, but it was quite intense going from one interview to the next. Ultimately this lasted for a couple of hours. The questions were all along the same lines. What is your perception of the industry so far? What are your energy levels like on a scale of 1-10? Why do you want the job?

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.

I was contacted two days before the interview by email to let me know that I would be required to complete and telephone interview to assess my personality and skills.
The interviewer said I could have some preparation material which I found very useful.
It didn't feel like an interview it was quite informal and I felt nervous at first but I was soon at ease and thought my personality came across well.

To describe myself in three words. It is hard to choose three words on the spot which encompass my personality

If there is an opportunity to receive pre interview preparation material take it and prepare as much as you can. It makes the interview less nerve wracking. It allows clear focused answers as I tend to babble when nervous.

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The interview was conducted over the phone. The company responded to my job application on the date that the application was sent. The individual that I spoke to was very useful because they were very supportive throughout the application process and also went through my CV. They were attentive to my needs, for example the fact that I was working over the summer and they replied immediately after the phone call to arrange a meeting for the interview.

Where do you see yourself in the future, say in two to three years.

Phone interview, make sure that before you send a job application that you research the company, so that you know exactly what you're signing up for. This may sound stupid, but make sure that you know that you want this job because it gives you more of an incentive to work for the role.

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First was an initial phone interview where I was challenged on my reasons for wanting the job and my skills and competencies. Other things discussed was my current situation (university, living arrangements etc). Then I was invited to attend the assessment day. Here, the day was composed of various stages and exercises. You had to pass each stage and you were assessed on each exercise on your abilities such as teamwork, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, communication etc. The final task was the last chance to really sell yourself to a small panel on why you should be chosen for the job.

Questions relating to the group exercise - reasons to back up your decisions made relating to the sample scenario.

Be absolutely realistic about the anticipated outcome. Don't get your hopes up too early (just because you pass the first few stages). You have to be incisive, punchy, and powerful from the second you start and you need to maintain this throughout. Be natural and take charge as soon as you get the chance to (group exercise!!) but not unprofessional where you end up shouting over everyone. Above all, you have to stand out, physically and verbally.

The first task was an elevator pitch where we had to introduce ourselves, our general background and most importantly why we want the job.

The second task was a paired exercise where we were required to question and converse with our partner on why they want the job, why they would be best suited to the job and also things to do with their general background, skills, competencies, education history etc. Our partner then had to do the same to us. Then we had to report back to the rest of the group. In essence, we had to effectively "sell" the individual we had a few minutes to learn about.

The third task was a group exercise where we were given a sample scenario and we had to effectively communicate with each other, work as a team, project our views etc to come to a final, group, informed decision.

The final task was a final chance to really sell yourself to a small panel. You had 20 minutes beforehand to prepare the 3 minute pitch. You had to really stamp out and emphasise why you should be given the job, how your skills, past jobs, past experiences relate to the job and why you would be best suited for it. The panel would then ask you questions. (In my case, they didn't ask me much!)

You had to PASS each stage.

MMA got in touch with me immediately after I sent my application to them through graduate-jobs.com, and an interview date was established for the following day. My interview covered all areas that I was anticipating with nothing "out of the blue" or unnecessary. My interviewer was friendly, engaging and professional.

A question based around giving an example of when I've shown commercialism in my life.

Preparation is without a doubt key! For the first round interview things are less formal and you mainly need to have good answers for: Why do you want to do a job like this? How are you suited to this job? Why do you want to work for us?
Be yourself and engage with the interviewer, ask him/ her questions also.
As the interviews progress they become more detailed. You will need to research the company well, essentially they're culture page, and any information that sets them out from the crowd.

Command tasks, presentations, tests and case studies.

Broken down, the interview was made up of three parts; firstly an informal chat with one of the team members, followed by a second interview with the regional directors and finally an online questionnaire.

The first meeting was to establish what I was looking for in a role and what Michael Page were looking for in a candidate. The second meeting was more difficult and involved two role play activities based upon everyday scenarios. Finally came the online questionnaire, comprised of both personal and probing questions and some problem-solving tasks, which I found to be the most challenging part of the interview process.

A section of the interview consisted of trying to sell myself as a candidate in the third person. I found this particularly difficult as it is something I felt a little awkward doing.

Do your research of the company but more importantly research thoroughly the specific role you are going for and really be prepared to talk yourself up in front of strangers, something which can at first seem rather daunting.

I undertook two role playing activities in which I was given possible hiccups to deal with. For example, you have put somebody into a job role set to start next Monday. The candidate calls you the Friday before and explains they have accepted another role with anther company. My task was then to call the prospective employer, explain the situation and suggest possible solutions.

I spoke to a member of human resources for this company on two occasions. Her approach was very conversational which allowed me to relax into the interview. I was asked about my intentions concerning a career within recruitment, and quizzed on my knowledge of the industry. The conversation lasted about 20mins, and concluded with a promise of a follow up phone interview. I believe this initial phone call was to discern how serious I was about the position. The second phone call was more specific and asked e where I would like to work, what skills I would bring to the job and what I would expect from the company.

I was asked 'what are the chief challenges to the recruitment industry today?'

Prepare answers to common questions for that industry. Try a web search asking what are the likely interview questions for a job in recruitment and you will find a great deal of information.

I did not attend an assessment centre