Inside Scoop: Most Common Questions Recruiters Ask & Why!
If you want to stand out as a promising candidate, you’ll want to be ready to answer some common questions so you can come across as polished and professional. Here are a few of the most common questions recruiters ask candidates as they assess whether you may be right candidate to pitch to their clients.
What attracted you to apply for this position?
By asking this question you, the recruiter is probably trying to gauge whether or not you are enthusiastic about the job opening or if you just applied blindly to the position.
What is your approach / methodology when making important decisions?
This question will give the recruiter insight into your critical thinking skills and the organizational processes you apply to decision-making situations. Is your thinking process well thought out and organized, or is it merely done on the fly?
What has your typical role on a team been?
This question will give the recruiting insight into how previous employers viewed you and how you may interact with fellow employees. Were you ever given charge of projects, or were you always in more of a supportive role?
How would your colleagues describe you?
Asking this will give the recruiter a better idea of how you view yourself in the eyes of others and should reveal clues on your ability to work within a team environment. Are you known as the quiet one, the goofball, the communicator, the workaholic, or something else?
What motivates you to do your best work?
This question requires some introspection on what truly motivates you to wake up in the morning and go to work. Depending on your answer, the interviewer will be able to see if you’ve actually put a great amount of thought into your job search and career plans. If you provide the recruiter with a surface-level answer, with something like “I’m just looking for a challenge”, they may second guess how intentional you are in your job search.
Give me an example of a work accomplishment that you are proud of?
With this interview question, the recruiter is trying to get a better idea of the goals / projects / initiatives you have successfully completed in your previous and current companies.
This allows you to showcase some of your strongest qualities + any leadership skills you have - so make sure you really think this one through!
Why do you think you are a fit for this opportunity?
This interview question helps recruiters understand if you have done serious preparation in getting to know the company before getting on the phone for an interview. They don’t want their organization to be a random job you applied for to get a paycheck. Do. Your. Homework.
Speak about some of your coworker relationships.
Personalities on teams are different. This line of interview questioning sheds light on how you interact with others and will help them determine if you have the potential to be a happy, productive member of their team.
Do you like working with a team or individually?
This really depends on what opening you are applying for. Is it a desk job that only requires you to be by yourself, or is it work that demands coordination and communication with others? Depending on your answer, the recruiter is trying to understand if you are flexible, willing to multi-task, and won’t be bothered if you sometimes need to work alone or with a team.
What are some areas of opportunity you’ve identified for improvement?
All job applicants have weaknesses in their character or qualifications, and immediately admitting them during the interview can actually be a sign of strength. Be careful with how you phrase your answers. and always position yourself in a way that shows you are self-aware, proactively seek feedback, and have already taken steps to begin learning / improving those areas.
What are your greatest strengths?
The ability of a candidate to talk about their strengths and still maintain their humility is a strong indicator of a winning personality. This also gives you a chance to explain and align your strengths with the position you are interviewing for by demonstrating attributes that will contribute to the company’s goals.
Talk about a critical work situation you solved.
It is often in pressure-filled and stressful situations where professionals and real leaders emerge victoriously and experience their greatest growth gains. Prepare 1-2 highly SPECIFIC examples you easily speak to and showcase during an interview.
When conflict arises at work, how do you handle it?
By asking questions related to conflict, the recruiter will get a better understanding of your interpersonal skills and personality.
What made you being to consider opportunities outside of your current role?
Here. the recruiter is going to be listening closely to how you speak about your current boss, team, and company. If you remain poised and respectful, the recruiter will feel more confident that you will treat future supervisors and colleagues appropriately if hired into their organization. NEVER talk bad about your current or past employers.
Describe your ideal workspace.
Since this is an open-ended question and not answerable with yes or no, take your time describing what your ideal work environment would be. The recruiter will be listening to see if your description matches their current work culture and office environment.
Outline the process on how you set goals.
The best employees are generally driven and goal-oriented. This question will help ensure you have the ability not only to achieve the goals the company would set for you, but that you would also be setting your own goals to achieve as well. Top candidates will be able to explain their goal-setting process in detail, how they set up their goals, break those goals into smaller tasks, and how they measure their success once completing them.
How active are you in your current job search?
If you have been applying for other positions, it is a good idea to tell the recruiter you are active in your search and where you are in the process with other organizations (first round, second round, etc). This will help the recruiter better understand if your timeline aligns with the company’s timeline for hire and if it makes sense to continue the conversation.
The recruiter always wants to know if you’ve been interviewing to understand what type of competition they are up against and if they should act quickly to extend a job offer.
Do you have any questions for me?
If a recruiter asks you this question, you should have a minimum of 1-2 questions ready to go. If the recruiter proactively answered the questions you had prepared - ask them what their favorite part of their role is - or why they decided to join XYZ company. Candidates who are the most passionate / thoughtful / interested are the ones who ask intelligent, informative questions that enrich the interview process.