As an altogether new field, Human Resources Management has gained quite a momentum in the last few decades. Organizations now know that to get more out of one’s business, using a quality human resource is of utmost importance.
When giving an interview for a recruiter position, it is essential to be prepared for the general introductory question from the hiring manager. The position is based in Human Resources, so the person interviewing you is likely to be your potential manager as well. To make a good impression, you must show that you’re a team player and have the necessary skills to fulfill the said position.
So, to fulfill the above objective, one must hire the right people to get the job done. A company’s human resource department does this work. A company’s HR department assesses how many people are to be hired for a particular task and the skills required?
But, what if the one who hires wants to get hired?
What are the Qualifications required?
What are the expectations of the employer from you? These are some of the pertinent questions that come to one’s mind.
Therefore, here we are providing a list of HR recruiter interview questions that a job aspirant is quite possibly going to be asked in any HR recruiter’s job interview. These interview questions are very helpful for any candidate who are applying for the position of Recruiter for IT, Recruiter (Technical), Executive in Recruiting, Consultant, or Recruitment Manager, etc.
- Human Resources Interview questions
- What are the most likely Technical Recruiter Interview questions
- Phone Interview Questions and how to prepare oneself to ace them
Most probable Human Resource Interview Questions
There are different formats of hr interviews, like
- One-on-one or face to face as we call it,
- Video conferencing or VC rounds where there are geographical constraints and to be physically present for one-on-one interaction is not possible, and
- Telephonic rounds or phone interviews.
In the formats mentioned above, each one can be used interchangeably or all of them together as per the need of the position to be filled.
In the COVID-19 pandemic, VCs and Phone interviews have become the most feasible options for conducting HR interviews.
These are the methods to conduct an interview; let’s look at what is asked in an HR recruiter’s interview?
General HR Recruiter Interview Questions
- Candidates Background
- Educational background
- Past job experience
- Hobbies and Pastimes
An HR recruiter’s daily task is to meet with upper management people, see whether they have any resource requirements, and understand what kind of skills are required for a particular job role.
So, whether to hire a candidate from outside or use a referral system can be worked out to fill the post.
Accordingly, an HR recruiter can post the requirement on job boards or job portals and start the candidate search process.
For the tasks mentioned above to be carried out, a Bachelor’s degree is sufficient. But sometimes, a company may also demand a professional degree like a Master in Business Administration in Human Resource Management or a Bachelor in Business Management.
One must also be proficient in a few languages and interpersonal skills.
Marketing and branding skills are also desirable, to put your company’s brand in front of the prospective candidates and appear confident.
When it comes to questioning a candidate’s background, one can highlight to what place they belong, place of schooling or graduation, family background, if asked.
One can highlight one’s job experience if it contains anything significant for the job applied. One must emphasize on positive aspects of past jobs to exhibit an upbeat personality.
Hobbies and favorite past times form an important aspect of one’s resume. It shows what interests you. Extra-curricular activities put a light on your other skills. Activities like sports, debates, dancing and reading books show that you are a team player or not. Public speaking skills can add to your advantage in this profession. They show that you are not a shy person and can enrich your job in a wide variety of ways.
1. Why choose HR as a career?
It is one of the most commonly asked HR recruiter interview questions, especially to freshers in this field. It is to understand that they understand the needs of the profession, that enthusiasm to carry out the daunting task to choose the right candidate to suit a particular position, and whether they are going to achieve the said results for which they are chosen. Candidate selection, resource retention, understanding resource concerns, and needs, are all the processes that require patience and perseverance.
2. Your strengths, weaknesses, and achievements
While facing an interview and answering this question, a delicate balance is required to be maintained. One must not appear overconfident in claiming that they do not have any weakness because no person is without drawbacks.
Nor should one be understating one’s strength in such a way that it leads to not getting hired.
3. What makes you an ideal candidate for this role?
Highlight your relevant experience in a previous job, if any, or make mention of your skills useful for such a position, like excellent interpersonal skills, communication skills, etc.
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HR Interview questions more specific to Recruiter’s profile
1. Have you evolved your recruiting style with changing trends in this field?
In any list of HR recruiter interview questions, this question figures prominently to check a candidate’s adaptability to changes in the field. But, unfortunately, it also prevents whether a candidate as a future recruiter is willing to change how recruitment is done if the process provides ideal results.
It shows proactiveness and readiness to try new things to make things work.
For example, during COVID- 19 pandemic, many recruiters had to switch to Video Conferencing (VC) and Phone Interviews to screen candidates because face-to-face interviews were impossible.
With changes in the attitude of companies towards the Work from Home concept or Remote Working has brought the use of technology into the limelight.
Also, changes in employee training and job enrichment programs are some of the recent trends to follow.
2. How do you keep yourself updated in this field?
One can stay updated with the recent trends and happenings in this industry by subscribing to newsletters, tracking press releases, attending conferences, reading magazines, or following social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, etc.
3. Are online websites and social media sites an efficient way to find recruits to match your requirements in candidate search?
Online job portals make the job easier to find and filter candidates according to the position’s needs to be filled. Thus, they supplement the purpose of the company’s job board and expand the reach for candidate search.
Nowadays, there is a popular trend to look for a candidate’s social media account, which helps to understand their personal and social traits. But, unfortunately, it sometimes happens that a candidate is a suitable person for the job role, but they can be a total reject when one studies their social media posting.
So, an HR recruiter has to selectively filter their requirements and decide to hire or reject a candidate based on such data.
4. How will you design your recruitment process?
One can follow different strategies depending upon the positions to be filled.
- There can be filtering of resumes based on qualifications and experience.
- Telephonic interviews or VC based interviews scheduling can be done
- Computer-based tests to check relevant aptitudes can be conducted at designated places
- Background checks on the candidates with the references provided by them
- One-on-one interviews to do the final selection
- Carrying out paperwork related to joining and other query resolutions, etc
There can be addition or subtraction on a case-to-case basis.
5. Positions for which you have conducted recruitment in the past?
In an HR recruiter’s interview, this question may be posed, if you are an experienced candidate and keep due knowledge of the recruitment process with your past employer.
To answer this question, one can enumerate the list of most significant roles, challenges faced in talent acquisition, and talent retention measures undertaken by self.
6. How will your recruitment skills enrich our organization’s recruitment process?
In this kind of HR recruiter interview question, one can highlight one’s strengths and weaknesses keeping in mind the role expectations, and at the same time enumerate any past exceptional job done.
7. Significant HR challenge faced by you recently and what did you do about it?
As any HR department in any company is there to address any human resource issue arising in that organization, no organization is aloof from employee conflicts and issues taking place at the workplace be it between the employees or between the employer and employee/s.
You can explain any such conflict handled by you efficiently, so as to put a weightage on your interpersonal skills.
It can also be anything related to the recruitment process.
8. Challenges you are looking for in your current job role?
This question is posed to understand whether a candidate is a risk-averse or risk-taker.
There can be a challenge in the difference between work culture between current employer and past company. Then there is working with a new team. Also, if one has experience in recruiting entry-level positions, then hiring managerial and top executive positions is a major challenge.
Some companies do not use the ‘Referral system’ of talent acquisition. In such circumstances searching for a candidate from an altogether new pool of applications is a daunting task.
9. Qualities and skills that an HR person/ candidate shall possess.
Since HR recruiters are at the center stage of talent acquisition, they shall have excellent communication skills, exude confidence, be empathetic to candidates’ concerns, and be good in marketing.
10. What do you understand about management? What is your own management style?
Management in simple words means directing and controlling all the resources (human, technological, monetary, natural, and others) so that they can be put to optimum use for the efficient functioning of any organization. Usually, all these efforts are directed towards the achievement of a set goal.
Most of the time, people have one management style or the other. But to show one’s flexibility in their approach in adapting to the new work culture at a new place and with a new team, a proper balancing answer should be given to this question, or else it can backfire.
This question also checks whether you can set a proper rapport with the HR manager under whom you are going to work, that your styles match, or that they are not contradictory to them to avoid conflict.
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Some other likely HR recruiter interview questions
- Any recent experience regarding grievance redressal handled by you?
- A significant change in the organization brought by you, if any?
- Possible trends in Human Resources in the coming five years or so?
Technical Interview Questions
A Technical Recruiter in the Human Resources department is the one who ensures hiring proper talent for the technical positions. They usually do this by meeting the top management people and other departments in the company, estimating what type of skills set, and qualifications are required to fill in a particular job role. These job openings are posted accordingly on the company’s job boards and other job portals, screening rounds are conducted and appropriate people are hired. A Technical Recruiter also sits through the interview rounds and assesses the potential candidate’s technical knowledge.
A Technical recruiter is a role specialist, which means he will ask the candidate regarding their understanding of the job role and will question you on the skills specific to the role.
Some of the questions specific to the technical round are:
- What do you mean by the term recruitment?
- What is a typical HR recruiter’s responsibility?
- What is the attrition rate in Human resources terminology?
- How do you source candidates?
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Telephonic Interview Questions
1. Describe yourself
When this type of question is asked, emphasis on qualities and skills that make you a good fit for the job. What are all strengths you possess that are going to add up to your job profile?
2. Reasons for why you have applied for a new position?
When you are asked this question, an interviewer is looking for your understanding of the job role and what you are looking for in your future job. Therefore, to avoid projecting a negative self-image, one must avoid criticizing their current job if they are working somewhere.
3. Why do you want to join us?
This kind of question intends to check whether you have studied the company profile properly, that you are clear in wanting the type of work your employer is involved in, as you are applying for the post of an HR recruiter. An HR recruiter is expected to put the company’s brand very strongly in front of any candidate to convince him/her to join, especially when they are holding many offers from other companies as well.
One can look for the company profile in the ‘about us’ section of its official website, new press releases, mission and vision statements, core values, citizen’s charter, etc., if it’s providing any public service.
4. Why are you searching for a new job?
It is to check whether there are any issues in your current job, or are you looking especially for job growth?
If there are any issues, put your career growth preference as a strong reason first, then any other personal issues.
These are just a few questions to ask a potential recruiter candidate. Depending on what you value most about a recruiter, there are various questions you can ask an HR recruiter. The above questions are ideal interview questions for the HR recruiter position. Finally, to hire the best HR people, you also need to have an HR recruiter who fits seamlessly with the values of the organisation.
This is the extensive list of HR recruiter interviews that we could provide for candidates aspiring to take the HR recruiter’s position to face any such interview with confidence backed by preparation.
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