Any Recruitment Consultants/Hiring Managers out there? Interview help

[PilingOnThePounds]

After staying at home for 3 years, I've finally decided to return to work.

I have an interview tomorrow and I'm not sure what to expect as its been a while since I've been interviewed.

Never worked as a recruitment consultant but did an unpaid HR placement a year ago for recruitment agency.

What would likely happen during the interview?

How should I present myself?

Will questions would they ask?

Any tips appreciated

Anyone?

Even just some interview tips as I really want this job.

general interview tips to bump the thread.

Is this a formal interview for a specific role, or an initial chat?

Obviously, look smart, smell pleasant.

Know the job description well, and the desirable/essential qualities of the candidates. If they have told you which bits they plan to assess in the interview even better.

Many interviews nowadays are 'competency based' which means they will ask you questions like 'tell me about a time when you had to....' rather than 'what would you do if...' so have some stories up your sleeve about things relevant to the job.

Hopefully someone will come along soon with specific info

Is it for an external role?

I’d focus on examples of your resilience - you could be calling 100+ companies and get 99 “no”a, how would you deal with that?

sales focus - what is your approach to selling a product? Ultimately that is what you are doing, both candidate and client side.

Examples of you providing good customer service.

Knowledge of different recruitment channels & how/when you would use them.

How you would deal with difficult situations.

They want to see resilient people who can keep calm, really sell the business and make decent money ultimately.

Its a sales job, probably quite a high pressure one
It will be very target led and you will need to be happy cold calling businesses and getting past gatekeepers.
I’ve been in sales and sales management for years and it’s too hard core for me.
I’m not trying to put you off, I’m just making you aware of what the job is. Dealing with candidates is only a small part of it and to be honest (and I’m not being too harsh here I hope) you will probably get the job and then “sink or swim” . It’s also not the most family friendly job
Having said all that I have friends who are Recruitment consultants, some who run their own businesses and they love it and make lots of money so if you go into it with your eyes open and it suits you then it could be great.

Hiring manager hat on:

• present yourself? As you. A smart, calm, presentable version of yourself so you're as comfortable as you can be. Be on time or early (please!)
• what will be asked/expected? I'd expect a strong candidate to have prepared examples of ways they demonstrate the skills asked for in the job spec, to have researched a bit about our company, and to have a pretty good idea of the nature of the work involved. I expect a bit of nerves so don't worry about that.

Recruitment - if it's a specialist agency (such as IT or finance) I would hope for a basic understanding of the industry and the kinds of skills the agency recruiters might be trying to search for; being persistent, confident and friendly, because recruiters have to work hard at keeping everyone updated and in touch with each other; possibly a basic understanding of data protection and confidentiality, as that's affected recruitment recently...

Give us some info from the job spec if you want to, and we might be able to help more

Get HR out of your head if you're going for a rec con role. It's sales. Relationship building, pro active candidate sourcing. DM me if you want more help! I work in R2R!

Thank you so much for the replies- very helpful.

Here is the job spec

*We work with the world’s most prestigious financial services organisations, private equity Investment firms, law firms and multi-national companies. We specialise in finding exceptional individuals to solve our client’s global hiring needs.

Our experienced teams of partners and researchers have a comprehensive understanding of the markets. We offer our clients highly specialist search solutions built on an unrivalled knowledge of the sectors in which we operate. We excel in delivering a level of service that is as exceptional as the companies we represent.

We take pride in building close relationships with clients and candidates, offering advice with the long-term perspective in mind, working with honesty and integrity at all times and delivering solutions that show our genuine passion about the advisory profession.

About the positions

We are looking to hire 4+ graduates to join our team at Pinpoint Partners as trainee executive search and recruitment consultants on our UK, European, US and APAC recruitment teams (all based in London but focussed on each market). We are a growing Executive Search company based in London, specialising in Financial Services and Legal Recruitment. We are looking for 4+ graduates to join the team with the aim of being trained and developed within 12 months to become executive search consultants. You will get experience of executive search in the finance and legal industry from a leading team of consultants. Duties will involve client mapping, candidate management, helping with the sourcing of roles, matching applications to vacancies, job management and gradually business development of your own book of business. You will join our UK, European, APAC or US recruitment desks (All currently hiring) and focus on either Financial Services or Legal Recruitment within this market.

Requirements

Being dedicated, professional, well-educated, creative and talented are all skills you will need to demonstrate every day to excel at Pinpoint Partners. We view your career with us as a long term partnership that sees you develop through extensive training year on year where you are always pushed and encouraged to achieve greater success. Ideally you will have at least a 2:1 (2;2’s considered) or above from a leading university, a good academic record and a desire to get into recruitment / executive search. You will be a recent graduate from a reputable university, with a desire to begin a career in executive search. Any knowledge of the finance industry, as well as language skills would be additionally useful. A desire to build a career in a fast paced sales role is also desired. The role will be based in London and the right to work in the United Kingdom will be a requirement*

They ask for grads, but I got an interview even though I haven't completed my degree.

Also, the hiring manager said that he wants me to meet some members of his team which to me indicates that the interview might be a bit informal.

What do you think?

Look at them on LinkedIn. All their team are sharp suited. Mirror that. Xx

Right - this looks like straight recruitment to me. They’re saying Executive search (which I used to work in) but is a recruiter vibe. This will be very sales heavy, long hours and high pressure. They’ll be looking to see you’re confident enough to call strangers, but it will be mainly be desk research and finding people online. So very little actual consulting for a long time.

They’re doing a team thing to see how confident you are rather than it being informal

I think that it’s a high pressure sales role buried under a load of guff. Focus on things like “fast paced sales role” and “your own book of business”
Hopefully you will get good training etc but if you don’t hit your targets you will be gone.
I’m so sorry OP I don’t want to bring you down but it can be pretty easy to get a job in Recruitment because there isn’t much risk to the employer, you pay your way or you are gone. Obviously not all companies are like this, some are highly professional and train people well but even so you WILL have to perform and quickly. Dealing with candidates is a small part of it, getting new vacancies in will be key and that’s bloody hard with plenty of rejection. I work on certain projects ( not Recruitment) where I have to cold call and I often have to say I’m NOT a recruiter so they will speak to me.
I’m really sorry OP I’m not trying to burst your bubble, as I said I know people who do these roles and love it but I’m trying to be realistic in a way friends and family won’t because they want to be supportive.
Do you have dc? Can you do interviews, phone calls etc at weekends or in the evenings? When you are chasing sales you need to be available to clients and while you can control your diary so have some flexibility this is probably not a 9-5 role. In very target driven sales you need to close those deals and if there’s a potential you need to chase it.
Go to the interview and see what your gut instinct says but be aware that this isn’t a HR job in the slightest

They’re doing a team thing to see how confident you are rather than it being informal

What do you mean by this? What team thing should I expect?

Do you have dc? Can you do interviews, phone calls etc at weekends or in the evenings?

I have a 3 year old. I'm not sure. I would have to get my partner on board. He's the one complaining that I'm not bringing any money in :/ so I've applied to anything and everything that has a good wage

Meeting members of the team is likely to be in addition to a formal interview, either before or after. We often do that so that we a) get a feel for the person from other employees' perspectives, b) see how the candidate behaves when in a conversational setting rather than Q&A setting, and (if it involves an office tour) c) get the reactions of the candidate to our workspace and style, so we can judge whether they're excited or appalled

This role will be explicitly performance-driven, with the indication from that job spec that after 12 months you would be expected to be fully functioning and bringing in your own candidates and vacancies. It all really hinges on how good the support is during that 12 months, and how comfortable you are in that kind of "making it happen" role. Some people love it, others not so much. Very good luck with the interview in any case.

It's not really a job just to bring in more money. It's a targeted sales role. It takes over your life!

With regards to the wage how much of it is commission based?
Do they say OTE? Basic wage may not be good, although they may boost this during the first few months during training
As I’ve said earlier you CAN make good money but that depends on your results and how much time you are prepared to put in
Given that you have a degree to finish and a 3 year old and a potentially unsupportive partner it’s going to be hard work

£22,000 starting salary + Competitive Bonus Scheme (40k+ OTE 1st year)

This is what they're offering.

I’m a recruiter. They might get you to do a phone call (set up with one of their staff) where you have to call a ‘company’ and try to get hold of a hiring manager and ‘sell’ them a candidate - try and get them to look at the cv and organise an interview type thing. A bit nerve wracking but it’s to see how you cope under stress and if you can ‘sell’. Don’t mention HR in the interview. Recruiting is a sales job, high pressure and can be a roller coaster. But if you are good at it it can be a fantastic career and great money. Good luck. Be confident!

Oh and they might ask who their competitors are. Have a look online at similar companies.
Also have an awareness of how they make the money - fees are calculated on a percentage of the annual salary the candidate you place will earn (usually) unless they have fixed fees in place. You could google for interview questions for recruitment consultant jobs as well just to give you some practice. Would your partner do a mock interview with you later ? That’s always helpful as it gets you thinking about your past experiences and transferable skills.

Message me your email address and I'll send you our rookie guide over

That’s not a bad salary but you WILL be earning it and if you don’t you won’t last long unfortunately
Look, I know I’m being negative and I wish you good luck for the interview but at least you are going in with your eyes open now and it sounds like user will be able to offer some practical help

Wow Wobble, that's great thanks.

Hopping

Not at all- I need to be realistic. Glad you've offered a non sugar coated perspective.

Emailed you. Good luck!!!!