Executive Recruiter Interview Preparation Guide

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The purpose of recruitment is to:
☛ Attract the maximum number of candidates to the organization and encourage them to apply
☛ Create strong database and select the best candidate for the position
☛ Ascertain the current and future manpower requirements of the organization
☛ Make the hiring exercise a cost effective one

Importance of recruitment is:
☛ To identify the potential candidates within the organization for future man power requirements
☛ To identify the outside candidates and hire them to meet the man power requirements
☛ To establish various sources of candidates
☛ To help in increasing the success of hiring process

The main components of a recruitment policy are:

☛ - Terms of recruitment
☛ - Sources of recruitment
☛ - Using the services of placement agents
☛ - Payment terms and conditions for placement agents
☛ - Recruitment of contractual employees
☛ - Obtaining requirements from departments
☛ - Selection process
☛ - Employment terms and conditions

This question helps determine if they have a ‘go-to’ person outside of their company. It highlights their need for help or counsel, which can be an indicator of a desire to learn and grow.

You know how many people told me they got fired? Out of 20,000, maybe two? It is REALLY important that you are honest with the Recruiter on why you left. If it comes out later that you lied, you are going to be dropped from consideration. If you are already on payroll, you WILL be fired. I have a Casino President that would not tell me why he left. Finally he said, “I did not make my numbers” and I replied, “Maybe your number were not realistic.” There are plenty of good reasons to leave a company. Don’t be shy - be honest!

This question, often the interview opener, has a crucial objective: to see how you handle yourself in unstructured situations. The recruiter wants to see how articulate you are, how confident you are, and generally what type of impression you would make on the people with whom you come into contact on the job. The recruiter also wants to learn about the trajectory of your career and to get a sense of what you think is important and what has caused you to perform well.

Be candid without sounding arrogant. Mention observations other people have made about your work strengths or talents.

Much like with the greatest weakness question, being asked about your failed projects can be another way that interviewers catch their candidates off guard. It is highly important to avoid saying answers such as “but it wasn’t my fault” or “it would have worked if they had listened to me.” The interviewer is not interested in who was to blame, and does not aim to embarrass you on your past mistakes. What they are looking for is someone who is able to learn from their mistakes and have the experience and knowledge to ensure that the mistakes do not repeat themselves. Answering that you “don’t have any failed projects” could show that you lack experience, so it is best to avoid that answer too. Give the interviewer a concise story with an explicit conclusion that demonstrates your ability to learn.

Asking this question helps hiring managers understand the level of responsibility that candidates are comfortable with, and will ultimately allow them to determine if their management style matches candidate expectations.

Your candidates’ responses can tell you a lot about their current work situation and the likelihood that they will accept a new offer. This question even provides insight into the possibility of a counter offer from their current employer.

Candidates who are well-suited for executive level assignments are astute in matters of finance. They are able to glean information quickly from financial reports and take the appropriate actions to ensure profitability for the business.

Well. I am currently at $ ______ , but my main concern is an opportunity with a company that will allow me to develop my skill sets and grow as an individual.

There can be two kinds of sources of recruitment for organizations - Internal and External.

Internal recruitment - It means getting the candidate from within the organization to fulfil a vacancy. Internal recruitment can be done by:

☛ - Transfer - transferring an employee from one location/ department to other.
☛ - Promotion - Taking the employee higher up in the hierarchy
☛ - Ex-employees - These could be the retired or retrenched employees
☛ - Demotion - Lowering the position of an employee in the hierarchy for various reasons

External recruitment - It means getting the absolutely new candidate to the company. The sources of these employees could be many:

☛ - Job notifications in the print/ online media
☛ - College campuses
☛ - Placement agents
☛ - Unsolicited applicants
☛ - Employee referral program
☛ - Employment exchange
☛ - Labour contractors

Poaching in recruitment means hiring the employee of a competitor who is working in the same capacity as desired by you. This is a major challenge faced by the HR managers as it causes the leakage of talent from an organization and effects its productivity.

The employee is usually hired by offering him better salary and perks.

If a company decides to outsource its recruitment activities, it looks for a consultant to do this job. Following are the important qualities, a company should look for in the consultant before hiring them -

☛ - Experience and expertise in the sector
☛ - Resources they possess
☛ - Achievements in the last projects
☛ - Flexibility and adaptability
☛ - Result orientation

Our clients have constantly asked us for Relentless Learners, People/Colleague Developers, and Results Drivers. Yours may be different, but these have consistently come up for us over the past 4 years.

Once you have clear answers to the questions above, you can begin your outreach and alignment process. Your goal when you get to an in-person interview stage is to spend time with as few, highly aligned candidates as possible. Your time is valuable. Their time is valuable. Make sure your initial screening process is so strong that only the best of the best make it to the in-person interview stage.

If the candidate isn’t able to share a specific story, keep looking. Every leader has made a mistake.

Again, be honest! If you are using one or two Recruiters you know personally, perfect. More than two is spamming, and smells like desperation. Personally, I look at which Recruiters the candidate is using as well. I’m 25%, so if they are being represented by a 15% Recruiter, I am out. Not judging. I like Costco, but I get my suits at Sak’s and Nordrsom’s. You are trusting your career with the Recruiter; don’t use a discounter.

If you can’t discuss a failure or mistake, the recruiter might conclude that you don’t possess the depth of experience necessary to do the job. The recruiter is not looking for perfection. He or she is trying better to understand your level of responsibility, your decision-making process, and your ability to recover from a mistake, as well as what you learned from the experience and if you can take responsibility for your mistakes.

Respond that you’d like to think that you have learned something valuable from every mistake you have made. Then have a brief story ready with a specific illustration.

It should conclude on a positive note, with a concrete statement about what you learned and how it benefited the company.

When questions like this appear during an interview, it really highlights the importance of conducting due diligence and research on the potential employer. Executives are hired to make decisions and think on the spot, and so this is a great way for recruiters and potential employers to test this. The interviewer will not expect a fully thought out strategy, but will assess the candidate’s thought process, attitude, and priorities.

Answers to these questions are very telling about candidates’ motivation, personality and potential cultural fit. If the job they least liked has similar qualities as the job they’re being interviewed for, then they’re probably not going to be a good fit and likely won’t stick around for long.

Candidates’ answers tell a lot about their follow-through on commitments and dedication to their jobs. Look for specifics in their responses.

Dedicated, committed employees will be able to speak to their efforts to ensure they do a good job in their roles. They will speak to prioritizing tasks and managing their time.

There can be various internal and external factors which affect the recruitment process.

Internal factors - The factors which are under the control of organization are called internal factors.

These could be -

☛ i.) Recruitment policy of the organization
☛ ii.) Human Resource Planning
☛ iii.) Expansion plans
☛ iv.) Cost of recruitment

External factors - These are the factors which are not under the control of the organization.

These could be -

☛ i.) Availability of talent
☛ ii.) Brand image of the organization
☛ iii.) Politico-social environment
☛ iv.) Legal conditions
☛ v.) Economic condition of the market
☛ vi.) Recruitment policy of the competitors

When there is a shortage of skills and talents at a particular geographical location, the company tries to hire people from other geographical locations. These people are called expats. Sometimes the companies require only expats for certain positions - depending on their recruitment strategy. While hiring expats it is important to judge following qualities in them:

☛ - Professional qualifications and expertise
☛ - Adaptability and Flexibility
☛ - Cultural sensitivity
☛ - Family conditions
☛ - Open mindedness
☛ - Any past international work experience
☛ - Level of self-motivation

This question helps us get a sense of the leaders commitment to the mission or purpose of their previous company and how willing they are to make the hard decisions leaders have to make when faced with the trade-off of staying true to the company mission/purpose or deciding to pursue short-term interests.

I’m looking for candidates to describe how they’ve done this in the past and how building a network helped them be successful. I’m also looking for creative or unique ways they’ve thought outside the box in order to get introduced to new contacts or reach their goals.

How they answer this question allows me to understand their communication skills, as well as their ability to build rapport and long-term relationships with others.