Having the right recruiting help can make the difference between a good or bad hire. If a new hire ends up not being the right fit, it can cost your company a lot. Additionally, the cost of a bad hire is more than just financial. Your company’s culture is impacted as well!
In order to avoid those setbacks, having the right recruiter on your side is helpful. Finding the right help for you often starts with asking recruiter interview questions that align with your company and its goals.
To help you get started, we’ve compiled this list of some of the most common recruiter interview questions to ask.
5 Common Recruiter Interview Questions
1. What is your relationship with past hiring managers?
First and foremost, when it comes to recruiting, you are forming a partnership. By asking a recruiter this question, you can see how partnerships are prioritized.
Additionally, you can determine how well they communicate overall. Great communication in a recruiter makes for a better hiring process.
For example, 52% of job seekers say that a lack of regular communication is frustrating. This can refer to communication during the interview process or even afterward. Job seekers find it frustrating when a potential employer doesn’t communicate with them outside of their interview and can cause them to seek employment elsewhere.
With a recruiter with good communication skills, your candidates will be updated promptly and thus, they will remain engaged with your company.
Overall, if your recruiter isn’t communicating with candidates, then it’s likely they won’t communicate often with you.
Making sure that you are both on the same page when it comes to communication makes for a beneficial partnership in the long-run.
2. What kind of resources do you use to recruit?
Understanding what resources are available to your recruiter is valuable.
When searching for a recruiter, you want someone who has a decently sized candidate network. Thus, they can find great candidates for you where you struggled to do so.
How a recruiter achieves this can impact the results of the process. For example, in 2019 at least eight out of ten recruiters are using references for their screening methods.
Knowing how a recruiter’s process works also goes back to the importance of communication.
Perhaps they use a process you’ve tried yourself and had no success with. This is where how flexible their process comes into play.
In the end, making the unique process that works for your company best is key. Thus, having an open-minded recruiter is important for making that process.
3. In what way do you determine a candidate is high quality?
This is a tricky question no matter what. In fact, according to a poll of recruiting teams conducted by LinkedIn, quality is the most difficult aspect to measure.
Again, communication is important here. Your company can practice a number of methods to determine what a good candidate is. For example, you can build out a potential candidate profile. This shows what you are looking for in your ideal candidate that fits your company and the job you’re filling.
Accordingly, sharing that information with a recruiter makes it easier to find candidates you both agree are good.
Knowing how a potential recruiter determines quality initially is important too. Are they possibly crossing off candidates you would like to see because of their own standards of quality?
Clearly communicating how quality is defined is important to know, as it has a big impact on the results of any candidate search.
4. How will you describe my company to future candidates?
This is where knowing what your employer brand will be crucial for success.
Essentially, you want an attractive employer brand for any future candidates to see. It’s important for them to want to work for you, after all. At least 84% of job seekers have shared that a company with a good reputation is important to them when applying.
One of the ways you manage your employer brand is through your recruiter. They are a representative of your company when they seek candidates for your open job positions. Additionally, they often contact candidates and describe your company to see if the candidate is interested. Thus, you want to make sure that your recruiter is portraying the positive employer brand that you need.
This is why seeing how a recruiter may present your company to a candidate matters. Can the recruiter present your company in a way that fits your company values?
5. What industries have you worked in?
As with any interview, knowing what experience someone has is helpful to see how they can fit into your company. With a recruiter, that experience matters for the results you will get.
For example, if a recruiter has a lot of experience in your industry, odds are their candidate network will align with what you’re looking for. In comparison, the opposite is also true.
Additionally, you can see how in-depth a recruiter can go when finding the right candidate with certain industries. It’s important to see if they can provide candidates that you retain.
Let’s say your company has a niche position you are struggling to fill. A recruiter with more in-depth experience in your industry will understand what it takes to fill the job. In addition, they will have experience filling similar jobs in your industry, and can thus find you more candidates that you are likely to retain in the long term.
With this question, you can also ask what their comfort level is with your industry. The expectations of the recruiting process before it has begun can have a major impact on its success.
Find the Right Recruiter For the Right Candidates
All in all, when you hire a recruiter, you are hiring a partner. Together, you will work on finding the right fit for your company. That’s why asking the right questions is important so that you stay informed and communicate well with your recruiter.
Finding a recruiter who is aligned with your company goals and dedicated to your company culture is vital for success. If your recruiter works with your company culture, then the candidates they find will as well.
When it comes to recruiting, finding talent that is culturally aligned with your company is key.
With the team at TruPath, who is dedicated to finding candidates for company culture, find the recruiter for you.
Don’t forget to keep these questions in mind when you contact TruPath to get started.