HR Recruiter Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is recruitment?

Answer:

Recruitment is the overall process of sourcing, short listing, selecting and appointing the right candidate at the right position. The job may be a paid job or an unpaid position such as trainee or any voluntary role. The role may be temporary or permanent.

Video : Recruiter Interview Questions and Answers

2. What are some of the important things to consider while trying to attract the right candidates?

Answer:

Every company has its own strategy when it comes to recruitment. Here are few things that every company should try and incorporate into its strategy:

i. Complete job advertisement: A right advertisement will help your potential candidates understand the job role. Describe the job role. Give a rough salary range. Take time over your advertisement as it will help you get relevant CVs at your desk which will save time in your sourcing process. Something that looks complete looks more authentic and attractive to candidates.

ii. Let the process be simple and smooth: It becomes difficult for the applicants to take multiple days away from work to attend the interviews. If the process is too long many candidates may get into other conversations or just lose their way. Try to have an organized and smooth interview process.

iii. Create Employer Branding: Develop your employer brand so that the candidates are attracted to you.

iv. Be flexible with interview schedule: Most of the candidates will have busy schedules. Try to be accommodative.

v. Work out attractive salaries and perks.

vi. Revert to the applications received: It may be difficult to get back individually when the number of applications is large. Try to revert individually, if you can otherwise have a system to do it automatically.

3. What are the most important stages in the process of recruitment?

Answer:

The most important stages in the recruitment process are:

i. Identifying your needs: Make a list of all the responsibilities the current person is handling. Is there anything additional you want the new person to handle?

ii. Planning: Know your sources of recruitment and channels of communication.

iii. Sourcing: Get the right kind of profiles. Job portals and social media are quite popular these days.

iv. Identify the right profile: Shortlist the most suitable profiles based on the job description and interest exhibited by the candidates.

v. Telephonic screening: Talking to them in detail over the phone gives you quite a clear idea about their suitability and interest.

vi. Face-to Face Interview: You can invite the most suitable candidates for a face to face interview.

vii. Making an offer: Make an offer. The candidate might accept or refuse it. Don't take it for granted.

viii. Hiring the candidate: Once the candidate accepts the offer, you can extend an appointment letter.

ix. On boarding of the candidate: Once the hiring process is completed the recruiting executive needs to make sure that the candidate shows up for their first day at work.

4. What things would you include in your job advertisement to make it attractive to potential candidates?

Answer:

Job advertisement is the first thing that applicants see while looking for a job. You need to make an impact instantly to attract the job seeker. Following are the things you need to include in your job advertisement:

i. Write more about the company: The candidates are more interested in the company they will be working for. Provide information about the office, the perks what the company is offering, etc.

ii. Write the right title: To ensure that the job reaches the correct audience and reaches the top of the search results, optimize the job title with proper keywords.

iii. Job responsibilities and skills required: Write complete and relevant things while staying to the point.

iv. Make mobile-friendly ads: People use mobile phones more for Internet browsing now and this includes job hunting. Make sure that you ads are attractive on mobiles.

5. What are the things, you would avoid in your job advertisement?

Answer:

In order to get a good and relevant response to your ad posting, you need to avoid a certain things like:

i. Avoid Job title like gurus, rock stars, etc. All these titles express the expertise of the job seeker. But in reality, no one uses these words when searching for a job.

ii. Don't just write what you expect from the job seekers. Write a bit about what the company is and what are you offering.

iii. Do not stuff your ad with too many keywords. Use relevant keywords in the text body of the ads.

iv. Do not let the ads look incomplete. They affect your credibility and lead to a low apply rate.

6. What is the role of communication in improving the candidate experience?

Answer:

There is always an increasing need to hire trained professionals and as we see a decline in employee loyalty the recruitment companies are turning more towards candidate rather than clients. And, communication plays a key role in the whole process till the time the candidate has actually been on-boarded. Following are certain things you can consider:

i. Providing confirmation at every step of the recruitment through a phone call or email, to keep them updated.

ii. Inform the candidate if they have been rejected. Knowing the status makes them have more trust in you for the next time.

iii. Provide basic information about the interview location, address, and timing. Taking a confirmation from the candidate in advance is helpful for the candidate and the client.

iv. The job description provided by the client may not be very clear. Give them a better insight into the role and company.

v. The candidate may need some extra information about the company, especially the experienced professionals who know how important company culture is. Also, some candidates may want to know how the company handles maternity and paternity leaves which may not be available on the company website.

When the recruiter provides the required information to the candidate, it makes for good candidate experience and helps to get the best talent.

7. As a recruiter what are the social media practices you need to pay attention to?

Answer:

Now a day's recruiters are using social media platforms as a platform to look for talent. Here are the few things that they need to change while using these platforms:

i. Only posting jobs: While using social media you have to engage your audience. You need to regularly post useful educational and entertaining content. Don't just post the job ads.

ii. Only using LinkedIn: While most of the people have their account on LinkedIn but the number of users using LinkedIn on monthly basis is too low. Include multiple platforms in your strategy. For e.g. Facebook works very well while hiring for advertising domain. You get to know a lot from the candidate's profile itself.

iii. Create and promote your social brand: Focus and spend some time on social media to get results. It works but it takes time.

iv. Adapt: What works today may not work after 6 months. Keep adjusting your tools and strategies.