Interview Questions to Hire Recruiters

Yes, you read that right. These are interview questions for-- well-- recruiters themselves!

These applicants aren’t your typical candidates. They are experts in exactly what you’re doing and, if you don’t ask the right questions, they’ll have a feeling that your company doesn’t know how to successfully recruit a recruiter.

Nobody wants that to happen! Don’t worry because we’re here to help. In our very own HR toolkit, we have an interview questions for recruiters template that you can utilize to show them what a skilled recruiter should ask in such scenarios.

There are general questions that you can start with, but there are recruiter-specific questions that you should focus on to get a grasp on how they are and if they match your company’s requirements. 

Keep reading below to know more!

Different Types of Recruiters

Before anything else, it might be important to know the different types of recruiters there are in the industry.

First of all, this might help you figure out what type of recruiter your organization needs. Second, you, more or less, have an idea of what type of recruiting background your candidate has.

There are too many different types of talent acquisition professionals, but here are the main ones that you should take note of:

In-house Recruiters: This type of recruiter works in-house or within your company’s very own HR department. They essentially hire for their own organization and do other HR tasks alongside it.

Agency Recruiters: An agency recruiter’s job is solely to fill the position requested by their client. It’s their job to source, screen, and make sure that the candidate can fill the role perfectly in terms of skills, values, and more.

Headhunter: A headhunter specifically fills senior management level positions. They work for clients who are requesting roles such as the c-level suite, VPs, senior managers, etc.

Temporary/Staffing Agency Recruiters: Such professionals also work for an agency, but they focus on temporary positions. This is suitable for contractual positions especially during peak seasons in the business or if there is a need to cover an employee due to vacations or sick leaves.

Niche Recruiters: Lastly, there are niche recruiters or specialists that only hire a specific target market. This can be the likes of legal recruiters, military recruiters, sports recruiters, etc. They are good to cover positions with technical requirements.

Interview Questions to Hire Recruiters Template

Now that’s covered. It’s time to prepare yourself ahead of time and be ready to ask them relevant questions for the position.

As mentioned earlier, you must ask specific interview questions that relate to how they think and act as a recruiter. These may be behavioral or situational scenarios about their work methodology, team dynamics, and candidate management skills.

This is important because knowledge about the matter isn’t enough. You need to determine how they apply what they know in the field. Here is a template to guide you:

General Questions

1. Why are you interested in working as a recruiter for this company?
2. Tell me more about your experiences as a recruiter?
3. What would you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses?
4. What are the challenges in recruiting?
5. What is your recruiting process? Please elaborate. Has it changed since you started your career or has it remained the same?

Recruiter-Specific Questions

Recruiter Performance

1. How much do you value data? How do you use it in your field?
2. How do you measure a recruiter’s performance?
3. How do you measure the quality of hire?
4. How do you check an applicant’s references?
5. Do you use recruitment software? Why or why not?
6. Think about the last senior management-level employee you have hired. What actions did you take to successfully recruit them?

Team Relationship

1. Tell me more about your relationship with your last two hiring managers.
2. Have you ever failed to fill a position needed by your hiring manager? What did you do?
3. What are the aspects that you find most difficult in working with hiring managers?
4. What was the most difficult position you had to fill? How did you handle it?
5. Have you ever mentored a junior recruiter? If yes, how did it end up?
6. Tell me about an instance where you did not meet eye to eye with your teammates about a hiring decision. What was the result?

Candidate Relationship

1. What is your process in handling candidate applications?
2. Tell me about a time when an eager candidate didn’t get the job. How do you deal with candidates who don’t get the job?
3. Have you ever had a top candidate reject your job offer? If yes, what did you do? What did you learn from the experience?
4. How would “sell” this company to interested candidates?
5. How important do you think employer branding is for the candidates?

Other Relevant Questions

1. What is the latest recruitment trend that you have learned?
2. What material do you consume to be in the loop about the HR and recruitment industry?
3. What is your “stick rate” for newly recruited employees?
4. Do you have a favorite roll to fill? What is it and why?
5. What aspect of being a recruiter do you find the most rewarding?

Summing Up

Recruiting a candidate who is also a recruiter can prove more challenging and require a specialized set of interview questions because they can be familiar with what you’re going to ask.

Get to know them better by asking specific behavioral and situational questions about their work ethics, relationship with teammates, how they deal with candidates, and many more. 

This also includes asking if they use any recruitment software, tools, or other resources that might help them become better recruiters. When you do this, alongside the general questions, you’ll be able to assess if they can be a good fit for your organization.

Need an email template to move forward with your next steps? Whether it’s an acceptance email, rejection email, or more, you can find them here!

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