Recruiter Interview Questions

Most candidates like to prepare for the interview and plan the questions and their answers ahead. But what about you, the recruiter? How do you prepare for the interview when trying to hire a fellow recruiter?

Recruiting a professional recruiter is not an easy task. Professional recruiters are familiar with the tactics and general questions most companies use in their interviews.

➡️ Before we dig deeper into the analytical skills interview questions, don’t forget to download our free Guide for Conducting Job Interviews & The Ultimate Candidate Interview & Employee Onboarding Checklist!

Before conducting an interview, you should establish a clear understanding of what kind of traits you are looking for in a candidate. A structured interview process will help you find your best recruiter.

Interview questions for hiring a recruiter

To find and hire your ideal recruiter, you need to prepare a specific set of interview questions. This is your chance to be creative, as recruiters already have an idea of what the interview can look like.

In this list of interview questions for recruiters, you will find examples of personality interview questions, behavioral interview questions, situational interview questions and industry related interview questions.

These types of questions will help you identify personality traits, skills and problem-solving abilities of the candidates.

Interview questions to ask when hiring a recruiter:

1. Personality interview questions for recruiters
2. Behavioral interview question s for recruiters
3. Situational interview questions for recruiters
4. Industry questions

Personality interview questions for recruiters

Personality interview questions should be a part of every interview. The idea behind asking this type of questions is to provide more clarity into whether the recruiter would be the right personality fit for your company.

Keep in mind that there are a bunch of misleading personality tests out there which could reduce your chances of hiring the ideal recruiter. Also, don’t confuse personality questions with personal questions. Asking personal questions is inappropriate and unprofessional, all serious interview questions should be business related.

• Why did you choose to work as a recruiter?
• What are your favorite interview questions to ask candidates? Why?
• What are your favorite roles to recruit for? Why?
• What do you consider to be the most rewarding aspect of being a recruiter?
• Were you ever a part of a company where you felt the company culture wasn’t the best fit for you? Can you explain why?

Behavioral interview questions for recruiters

Behavioral interview questions will give you an insight into the recruiter’s professional background and demonstrate how the recruiter handled a variety of work situations in the past.

As personality interview questions will reveal to you recruiter’s aspirations and soft skills, behavioral or competency based interview questions will help you identify recruiter’s hard skills and abilities to tackle different work situations and problems.

• How has your recruiting process changed since you first started?
• What were some of the last interviews you’ve conducted? How did you manage to determine if the candidates were a good fit for your company?
• How do you approach the candidates when you have to inform them that they didn’t get the job?
• Have you ever experienced a situation where you weren’t able to fill an open position? Can you explain what the issues were?
• Can you describe your usual interview process? Take us through the interview structure and the steps you take.
• What was the job title of the last senior member you recruited? How did you manage to bring them to your company?
• Have you ever mentored a junior recruiter? Can you describe your way of tutoring?
• Can you tell us about the situations where you needed to collaborate with your team to fill a position? Were there any disagreements between you and your colleagues?
• Have you ever had any difficulties communicating with your hiring manager? How did you resolve those issues?

Situational interview questions for recruiters

Situational interview questions are probably the most important interview questions to ask when hiring a recruiter.

Recruiters are familiar with the interview process and they might have some prepared answers to the most common interview questions. Asking them situational interview questions will give you a chance to test their creativity skills and problem-solving abilities.

• Can you tell us what you expect your duties in this position will be?
• What would you do if you were asked to complete a task you’ve never done before?
• How would you introduce our company to a candidate?
• What would you do if your friend is one of the candidates you’re interviewing?
• What would you do if you made a mistake no one else noticed?
• How would you handle receiving criticism from a superior?
• What would you do if you were unsatisfied by an aspect of your job?

Recruiting industry interview questions for recruiters

Asking interview questions about the recruiting industry will show you whether your recruiter really is an expert in his field.

• What are your preferred tools for managing a recruitment process?
• Can you tell us how you make use of data to help you recruit?
• Can you tell us something about the industries you recruited for? Which of those industries do you feel most confident in?
• Do you keep up with the latest recruiting trends? What media do you use to keep track?
• What do you think is the most important thing in conducting a successful recruiting process?

Looking for more questions to ask your candidates in an interview?

Find inspiration in our list of interview questions by type and make sure to check out our Complete guide for asking candidates the best interview questions.