You’ve been contacted by a recruiter and said you were interested in the job we’re recruiting for, so we set up a phone interview as the first step in the process. We know that you’ve probably been contacted by a number of recruiters for various different companies, so we’re excited that you’ve chosen to talk with us. You’re excited about the opportunity and we’re excited we found a good potential candidate. Now the fun part begins. Are you the right fit for our client? Can we get you excited about our job? Do you really want this job? Here’s a few thoughts that go through our minds as we’re interviewing you. 1. We want you to be a fit for our job, so we can submit you to our client. That means during this short time we have to talk with you, we want you to tell us about you. Our goal in this interview is to determine if you are a fit for our client’s position, so show us the best side of you, give us some memorable information about you and while this is only the first step in the process, it’s one of the most important because we either move you on to the next step or NOT. Instead of letting us wonder if you’re a good fit, share with us the information we need to figure that out. Provide us with an updated resume, a good LinkedIn profile and tell us how your knowledge will be beneficial to our client. 2. We have to ask you a ton of questions, so we can get to know you and understand if you can do the job. When we ask you questions about what you’ve done and how you’ve been successful, give us the meat of it. If you can’t answer my questions in detail without getting annoyed you’ll likely get rejected by our client, so let’s take this time to get the details we need, so we can move to the next step. We know what our client is looking for and we need you to share with us how your knowledge will be beneficial to our client. Hiring managers ask deep questions and high level responses to our questions aren’t impressive. You should be able to share how you crush your quota and how you deal with your clients. You should be able to articulate what’s unique and different about you and what you can bring to the company we’re discussing with supporting details, so we can move you on to the client interview. 3. When we ask you to do something we really need you to do it, so we can move you on in the process. We may be just “a recruiter” but we can get you in front of our client instead of being stuck in the “black hole” ATS system or stuck on someone’s desk in HR. Working with a recruiter is a benefit to you because we can share valuable information about our client, the company, the culture that you’ll never be able to get if you apply directly to a job, so listen to us when we suggest you do something to improve the process. While our process may seem painful to you, the process works if you follow it and do your best in the process. If you half-ass part of the process it will show and you may not be moved on. One example, we use a video interview as one step our process. Our clients love getting an early view into who you are. We tell all our candidates to dress professionally and make sure to be in a light area and make sure they can see themselves on the screen. We had a candidate who dressed in a t-shirt (didn’t get an interview with the client) and someone who we couldn’t see on the screen (didn’t get an interview with the client). It doesn’t really take too much time to set yourself up to be successful, just take the time to do it. It will pay off for you. 4. We want you to show some initiative by doing some research about the company we are representing. I’m amazed at how many times I’ve spoken with candidates who said they were too busy to review the company website before our conversation. If you want a job, you need to do some work to get it. Companies these days want to hire smart, hungry sales people but also sales people who do their homework, so if you don’t take the time to learn about the company and what they do for our conversation, how will you ever convince my client that you’re a good fit for their company? As sales people in today’s market, your ability to research and show how you can contribute is key to being a good sales person. 5. We want you to tell us if you’re not interested in the job, don’t just go “dark” on us. If the job doesn’t sound like the right fit for you, please tell us you’re not interested, so we can move on and find candidates who are interested. We can handle the rejection much better than wondering if you’re going to call us back or not. We recruit sales people, so we realize you have a lot going every day just to keep your current job but as a sales person you know how important communication is too. How do you feel when your client goes “dark” on you? Treat us like you want your clients to treat you. You wouldn’t go days without returning a call to a client, would you? Remember our interview is just the beginning of a working relationship and when you as a candidate create a great first impression, you are someone we will work our butts off to get a job. Your genuine interaction with us will be beneficial for both of us. You’ll get a new job and we’ll have a happy client.
Five Things Recruiters Want Job Candidates to Know About Interviewing with Us
