The Role of a Recruiter

If you are job hunting, you need to cultivate relationships with recruiters. Recruiters are primarily tasked with filling positions for businesses, but they play an advisory role for job seekers in the process. They can work with you to make sure you are ready to face employers. For example, they might provide guidance on interview etiquette, salary negotiations, workplace culture and expectations, and proper work attire.

Types of Recruiters

Before deciding to work with recruiters, it’s important to understand these three major types:

• Retainer-based recruiter: This recruiter serves as a third-party consultant and charges a business a retainer fee up front in order to find a candidate. Often, the candidates they seek are senior-level business people who meet specific job requirements.
• Contingency-based recruiter: This recruiter can be a staffing or temp agency hired to conduct a specific search to fill temporary roles. Usually the roles they seek to fill pay below $100,000 per year. Contingency-based recruiters compete with other firms to present the right candidates for job openings, and are paid only if their candidate gets hired.
• Corporate recruiter: This recruiter works internally. They are responsible for distributing the job posting, sourcing candidates, screening resumes, and shortlisting candidates to be presented to the hiring manager.

USE A STANDARDIZED INTERVIEW MODEL

Interviews are one of the most important parts of the hiring process, and are often rife with bias. The main issues we see with interviews are group interviews and unstandardized processes.

What do I mean by this? It means the interview experience varies by candidate. For example, a candidate hired through a referral is brought in for a casual chat with the hiring manager and their prospective boss, while a candidate who applied online sits through a coding test and multiple interview panels. Not only do these candidates not step into the workforce on equal footing, but the chances of one getting hired over another is high. Work with your peers, with your company leaders, and figure out a rubric or evaluation model that’s used for unilaterally for every hire. Create a plan for a standardized interview model so that all candidates are asked the same kinds of questions, put through the same kinds of tests, and offered the same starting offers.

Increasingly, phone and video interviews are used to screen applicants because they are cheaper and often more convenient for the employer to conduct than face-to-face interviews. Many of the same principles of effective interviewing apply to phone and video interviews, but some aspects are quite different.

Consider enlisting a friend or family member to conduct a mock phone or video interview with you for practice, using the actual mode you’ll use for the real interview. Be sure you’re in a quiet, secluded place, free of distractions, at the time of your interview appointment.

In the real interview, avoid any behaviors that will cause distracting sounds during the interview, such as chewing gum, coughing, snuffling, sneezing and throat-clearing. Have a glass of water handy in case your throat gets dry or ticklish. If you feel yourself going off on, for example, an unstoppable coughing jag, ask if the interviewer would like to reschedule. For video, avoid visual distractions, such as a person or pet walking into the room.

Just as you should smile in a face-to-face interview to project enthusiasm, smile as much as possible in your phone or video interview. The interviewer can’t see your smile over the phone but will hear it in your voice. On video, you’ll be seen similarly to how you’d be seen in person, so smiles and other nonverbal positive behaviors are called for.

Don’t feel you need to fill lulls in the conversation. If the interviewer doesn’t respond at the end of your answer, ask a question to deflect the conversation back to him or her. Similarly, don’t be afraid to take a good pause before answering any question that throws you for a loop. Pauses and lulls seem much longer on the phone or video, but don’t let them rattle you, and don’t feel you must blurt out an immediate response. Take a moment to think and then respond to the best of your ability.

Since phone and video interviews are often initial interviews intended to screen out candidates, expect the unexpected. Remember that afterwards, phone and video interviews require thank you notes just as face-to-face sessions do.

Every company needs leaders at all levels in their organization, sometimes team members can be promoted from within but at other times companies need to hire someone like you. Here are some questions you should expect in an interview.

Five team leader questions.

What’s your leadership style? 

This is a common question that gets asked at team leader interviews. The employer wants to see that you have a proven strategy for leading people. It’s a tricky question as there are no right or wrong answers. Your leadership style is determined by several factors, including skills, experience, values and the company culture.

Your answer should clearly explain what your management style is. Always indicate that your approach isn’t rigid – but is adaptable and flexible enough to fully support each team member.

What would you do if two members of your team didn’t get on?

Let’s face it, most teams contain people who have different drives, personalities and ways of doing things. So it’s inevitable that at some point, two colleagues won’t get on. As a team leader, it’s part of your job to manage this situation, and ensure it doesn’t escalate.

Being asked to describe what action you would take if colleagues didn’t get on is a question that’s frequently asked in team leader interviews, explain the problem, the action you took and the result.

How do you build a strong culture within your teams? 

When a team shares a set of beliefs, attitudes and values, they’re better equipped to achieve their collective goals. Whether it’s hitting a sales target or getting a new product to market.

Team culture is achieved through many things, including supportive leadership and trust – but these things may not be enough on their own. So try and think about practical ways you can create a strong culture, such as team building events, regular one-to-ones and team catch-ups, and use these examples to help give your answer credibility.

What methods would you use to evaluate your team’s performance? 

Measuring a team’s performance is an important part of a team leader’s job. By identifying strengths and weaknesses of each team member, you can assign them tasks that match their skills.

The method you’ll use to measure the team’s performance will depend on things like the sector you work in, the type of job the team is doing and what the company’s goals are. So, when preparing your answer, think about what factors are important to measure and how you’ll use the information to improve the team’s performance in the future.

And if you can demonstrate how these align with hitting overall business objectives, you’ll really be able to get the interviewer’s attention.

Tell us about a time you led your team to success? 

This question focuses on your ability to inspire and motivate your team. This is your opportunity to impress the employer with your leadership skills, so don’t shy away from acknowledging your accomplishments.

Have a strong example, clearly explain what the project was, how you managed the team and what value this brought to the company. But also show how the whole team contributed to this success.