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Recruiter Interview Questions

Hiring agencies and corporations look for someone with good listening and communication skills when hiring a recruiter. Be prepared to answer questions about your ability to listen to a potential candidate. Expect questions about your relationship with past managers, how you deal with rejected candidates, and when a candidate may reject a job offer from you.

Top Recruiter Interview Questions & How To Answer

Question 1

Question #1: What was your relationship like with your past managers?

How to answer
How to answer: This question is designed to see how well you, as a recruiter, work with managers and how you view your relationship with them. Answering that you feel that you and your managers work as partners and together in a proactive, positive manner.
Question 2

Question #2: How did you tell a potential candidate that they didn't get the job?

How to answer
How to answer: The hiring agency is looking for how a recruiter can handle delivering rejection to a candidate and their ability to use soft skillsto share that information. Answer by stating that you contacted the potential candidate to tell them the news, explained why they didn't get the job, and shared tips to enhance their next job interview.
Question 3

Question #3: What did you do when a qualified candidate rejected your job offer?

How to answer
How to answer: Occasionally, a candidate will reject a recruiter's job offer. Answer that you contacted the candidate to find out why they rejected the job offer. If the rejection had a valid reason — say the salary was too low — make it clear that you went to your hiring manager to help negotiate the salary the candidate was asking for.

60,900 recruiter interview questions shared by candidates

The last question I was asked was a math question, which I was not expecting at all. It was a word problem that had to do with calculating the profit made by a staffing company after placing a candidate at a new position with a client.
avatar

Recruiter

Interviewed at Bryn Neil International

3.7★
Mar 21, 2014

The last question I was asked was a math question, which I was not expecting at all. It was a word problem that had to do with calculating the profit made by a staffing company after placing a candidate at a new position with a client.

The interviewer didn't ask that many questions but spent considerable amount of time telling me about the job. That's where I learned they were recruiting for a sourcer (not in the JD) and not a full-life cycle recruiter.
avatar

Recruiter

Interviewed at Bryn Neil International

3.7★
Mar 20, 2025

The interviewer didn't ask that many questions but spent considerable amount of time telling me about the job. That's where I learned they were recruiting for a sourcer (not in the JD) and not a full-life cycle recruiter.

This is not a question, but they will have you source and walk through a live REQ basically doing free work for the company. They are awkwardly watching you the whole time and the whole experience is very unnerving and, in the end, is in no way a reflection of how recruiting should really work.
avatar

Recruiter

Interviewed at Charlie Health

3.5★
Oct 31, 2023

This is not a question, but they will have you source and walk through a live REQ basically doing free work for the company. They are awkwardly watching you the whole time and the whole experience is very unnerving and, in the end, is in no way a reflection of how recruiting should really work.

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Glassdoor has 60,900 interview questions and reports from Recruiter interviews. Prepare for your interview. Get hired. Love your job.