You are getting ready for a job interview and you are wondering what questions you will be asked? Would you like to anticipate a little to better bounce back on the day of the interview? Well, we're not psychic, but with all the recruiters we meet and recruiting at makesense ourselves, we can already give you some tips on what to ask. Here are 30 recruitment interview questions !
HR interview questions
The first step in the recruitment process for organizations is the HR interview. In some structures where there are few employees, it is possible that you will pass this interview directly with the manager. And roughly speaking, here is what the recruiter will be looking for:
1/ Your coherence: are the information in your resume and cover letter in line with what you express in the oral presentation?
2/ Your strengths and abilities to succeed in the position to be filled.
3/ Your motivations and your interest in the position you are applying for.
4/ Your good understanding of the issues of the position;
In concrete terms, what does this mean in terms of questions?
Questions during the interview
#1 How did you find us?
#2 What made you want to apply to us?
#3 How does your profile match the criteria for this position?
#4 Why you rather than someone else?
#5 What did you understand about the job?
#6 I see that you have such and such work experience. Can you tell me about it? What was it like? What did you get out of it?
⚠️ You can also have requests, like :
#7 Tell me about yourself;
#8 Describe your personality.
Practical questions at the end of the interview
#9 Where are you in your job search? Do you have any other processes going on? Deadlines to meet?
#10 What are your salary expectations?
#11 Are you mobile?
#12 When are you available? X months notice?
⚠️Prendre notes after a job interview can help you for the next steps in the process or for future job interviews!
Questions asked in a business interview
For this interview, here is what will interest your future manager or your internship supervisor:
1/ Deepen your professional background
2/ Test your understanding of the organization
3/ Understand your skills and appetites for the position
4/ Test the culture fit
5/ Understand your expectations
In the context of a job interview, here are the types of questions asked:
#13 What did you understand about our business?
#14 Can you name our X missions?
#15 You say you are empathetic on your resume. Empathy is very important in our business. How do you show empathy? Do you have any examples to give me?
#16 We are very results-oriented. Can you tell me about your previous experience as a salesperson? What were your numbers?
#17 What are your faults (or weaknesses) and qualities for the position?
👉For qualities and flaws, you can actually read our article on the subject!
#18 With which people do you find it more difficult to work?
#19 What is the work environment in which you feel comfortable?
#What is your professional project? How does this job fit in with your career plans?
⚠️From one interview to the next, you may get repeated questions! This is normal. And it also tests your consistency. Often, recruiters have a scorecard, an evaluation grid of the candidate that allows them to take notes at each stage of the recruitment. If certain answers given during a previous interview contradict answers given afterwards, the recruiters could look into this point with you at the end of the process, for example!
If a case study has been done
You may be asked to complete a case study for a first or second interview. Here are the questions that could come out of this exercise:
#21 What did you think of the case study? What were your difficulties? What did you like to do?
#22 How did you go about answering?
#How could you improve if you had to do it again?
Maintenance issues culture fit
During a culture fit interview, you meet a part of the team or the whole team (depending on the size of the company). You have passed the hardest part, but this is not the time to relax, because this step is also a test phase! The team is going to judge your liking for their way of working and your natural fit with it. Here are the questions that could be asked during this meeting:
#24 What do you understand about our organization's model?
#25 What are our values? Do you recognize yourself in these values ?
#26 How do you see yourself in the company?
The trick questions
Finally, especially during the first HR and job interviews, some questions can be trick questions to test you! It's up to you to build an argument, not to justify yourself, but to explain to the recruiter the answer to their "why? Often, these trick questions are based on doubts or fears about your profile. A bad recruitment is costly for the company, so they will test you to make sure you are the right person! It is up to you to reassure the recruiters that you are the right person for the job. To give you an idea of what they can be, here are some of them:
#27 Why weren't you hired by your previous employer at the end of your internship?
#28 If at the end of the process you have the choice between our organization and organization X, which one will you choose? Why?
#29 What difficulties do you find difficult to manage?
#30 Aren't you too young for this job?
Beyond the maintenance issues
To stand out from the crowd and succeed in a job interview, you should not only rely on the answers to the questions, other parameters will be taken into account.
Your body language
Beyond the questions, the people you will meet face to face will also observe your attitudes and your non-verbal communication. Don't stress, all recruiters do it, it's part of the game! To prepare yourself for the interview, you can ask people close to you to give you feedback on your body language. Do you touch your hair while talking? Do you nervously touch your bracelet between sentences? Everyone has such tics and being aware of them will help you work on limiting this reflex.
Your dress code
"The clothes make the man! That's what recruiters will have in mind. To make a good impression, depending on the job and the sector of activity, you don't need to wear a three-piece suit, but make sure your clothes and shoes are clean, not wrinkled, not torn. Be sure to get the right information, because in some companies, there may be a dress code!
Your self-confidence
The recruiter can tell whether or not you are confident during the interview by your answers to the questions. If we were to give you some advice, it would be to work on your body language as said above, and to explain without justifying yourself. We give you an example at the end of this article to differentiate between explanation and justification in answers.
To go further
👉 And to understand what's going on on the recruiter's side: How to conduct a recruitment interview?