Executive Recruiter interview questions and answers
This Executive Recruiter interview profile brings together a snapshot of what to look for in candidates with a balanced sample of suitable interview questions.
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Executive Recruiter Interview Questions
Start an in-depth conversation that will help you find the best Executive Recruiter for your company. You want a candidate whose thoughtful responses are informed by actual experience. Someone who will be invested in the success of your company, and who shows it by asking intelligent, incisive, and maybe even difficult questions during this interview. Be on the lookout for traits embedded in the DNA of great recruiters, such as tenacity, curiosity, and empathy.
Your Executive Recruiter will be interfacing with candidates in leadership positions. They’re responsible for making positive first impressions, so find someone who is well-spoken, with deep knowledge of your industry. For more effective candidate screening, add your own questions tailored to your specific environment.
Executive Recruiters are mainly found in two types of settings: corporations with several executive roles, and executive search firms with both large and small clients. Unlike many recruiters, who rely primarily on inbound leads for candidate sourcing—job boards and the like—Executive Recruiters are proactive at sourcing and are always building up their talent pool.
Operational questions
- Tell us about your experience in our industry.
- Which jobs in our industry are the hardest to fill and why?
- After speaking to your client/hiring manager about a new position, how do you structure your search? How do you go from your long list to your short list?
- Describe your preferred mix of candidate sourcing methods. What has worked well for you? What do you no longer do?
- What was difficult about sourcing in companies you’ve previously worked for?
- List and describe your favorite tools for tracking and following up with candidates.
- How do you approach interviews? What is your game plan? What are you trying to find out?
- Talk about a hiring process from a previous company. What worked well? What didn’t work well? What would you change?
- Here’s our current time to hire, cost per hire, and success rate. What could we do to improve these? Where would you start?
- Describe the common challenges of working with hiring managers.