If you manage a recruiting business, you might be looking for new people to bring on board. When that happens, you might need to conduct interviews and select a new candidate. Since your job is to find the best candidates for your clients, it shouldn’t be too hard, right? Hiring can always be a challenge, especially if you don’t know what interview questions to ask when hiring a recruiter.
Hiring a recruiter
When your firm is ready to hire a new recruiter, you need to make sure they’re the right fit. Here are just a few traits you should look for in a recruiter:
- Honest to both candidates and clients. They don’t over promise, but they are able to deliver top talent to their clients.
- Resilient when they don’t make the placement. Successful recruiters keep going when they are met with obstacles.
- Communication skills are a must. If a recruiter doesn’t listen to the needs of the client and the qualifications of candidates, they won’t be successful.
- Organized recruiters are needed in the industry. Without organization skills, recruiters will lose track of candidates. Maybe, they use recruiting software with an applicant tracking system to help.
- Dedication when the job gets hard. You don’t want to hire someone who won’t give it their all. Your firm needs someone who works as hard as they can to make placements.
You also need to make sure the recruiter would do well in your company’s culture. Make sure the candidate knows how to use different recruiter tools, like recruiting software, to stay on top of your firm’s processes.
Interview questions to ask when hiring a recruiter
Making the right hiring decision comes down to the recruiter interview questions you ask. Asking thorough, conversation-starting questions will let you learn more about the applicant.
On top of behavioral interview questions you might ask, recruiter job interview questions should be geared toward the industry. Find out about the recruiter’s success rate in making placements, what industries they are strongest at recruiting in, and their relationships with candidates and clients.
Take a look at this list of interview questions for recruiters:
Questions about the recruiter’s experience
You need to learn about the individual’s recruiting experience. These recruiter interview questions should give you insight into the candidate’s professional background.
1. Describe your relationship with your last four clients.
2. About how many candidates did you communicate with for your last job order? Tell me about your process in narrowing them down.
3. Tell me each industry you have recruited for. Which do you think were the hardest, and why? Which industries do you feel strongest in?
4. Describe a time when you were unable to make a job placement. Why? Did you need to restart the process? Did you leave on bad terms with your client?
5. Are your clients happy with the candidates you are able to source? Was there ever a time when a long-term client no longer wanted your services? How did you react?
6. When you need to tell candidates they didn’t get the job, what do you say? Do you remain on good terms with them?
7. What are some common challenges you face when working with a client? How do you handle these challenges?
Questions about the recruiter’s 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?
Questions about measuring processes
Once you know a little bit about how the recruiter operates, you can ask them about whether they measure their success. These measurement interview questions for a recruiter position will shed some light on which recruiting metrics your candidate values.
16. Have you ever given surveys to candidates and clients to gauge their satisfaction with your recruiting process? If so, what were the results?
17. How have you used data to measure your recruiting process? How has it helped you?
18. When measuring your performance, did you notice there was a time you lacked placements? Why? What did you do to combat this?
19. If you do measure your success, tell me about your average cost per hire.
20. How long does it typically take you to fill a job order? Why? What do you do to work on improving this?
Questions about recruiting industry
It’s important for a recruiter to be knowledgeable on industry trends. And, you want a recruiter who is proud of the work they do and is excited about their profession. Consider these questions.
21. Do you keep up with the latest recruiting trends? What is the latest trend you have read about that you have noticed?
22. What jobs do you think are the hardest to fill? How do you manage to make the placement, regardless?
23. What are some common reasons candidates turn down a job offer? How do you combat this? Have you ever convinced a candidate to take the job when they were on the fence?
24. Can you tell me about a time when you felt fed up with the industry? Has there ever been a time you almost left recruiting? What made you stay?
25. Why did you first want to become a recruiter? Has your mindset changed? Why do you continue to want to be a recruiter?
26. Based on your experience with the industry, what do you think will happen in the next five years?
27. What do you consider the most rewarding aspect about your job? Explain.
Questions about contract staffing
If your firm offers contract staffing, you probably want a recruiter who is familiar with the process. Here are some questions to ask about contract staffing:
28. Have you ever offered contract staffing? If so, what are some common problems that come up?
29. Did you ever use a contract staffing back-office to act as the W-2 employer of record? How did they help? Were you able to see a spike in your productivity?
30. How many contract employees have been hired full-time? Were you pleased with this rate?
31. Have any clients been dissatisfied with the contract employee you offered? How did you rectify the situation?
Questions about your recruiting firm
The recruiter you hire should be familiar with your firm. Here are some questions to ask when interviewing a recruiter that will reveal more specific insights.
33. How would you be able to improve our current recruiting processes? How could you contribute to this firm?
34. What would you suggest to innovate the way we recruit here? Explain why you think these would help.
35. Do you have any questions for us about our recruiting process?
