10 common recruitment interview questions (and how to answer them)

Recruitment interviews have a twist the rest of the job market doesn't. The person across the desk interviews people for a living. They ask questions all day, they know every stock answer by heart and they will follow up on anything that sounds rehearsed. That sounds terrifying. It's actually a gift, because it means honest, specific answers land far better here than polish ever could.

The ten below cover most of what a trainee or resourcer interview throws at you. For each one: what they're really testing, then how to build an answer out of your own life. Build, not memorise. Scripts shatter under a second question. Answers you've genuinely thought about don't.

1. "Tell me about yourself"

The opener that flattens unprepared candidates precisely because it sounds like small talk. They're checking whether you can present yourself in under a minute without rambling, which is a skill you'd use on every call in this job.

Use a three-part shape: who you are now, one thing you're good at with proof attached, why you're sitting here. "I'm in year 13 doing business and psychology. I've worked Saturdays in a phone shop for two years, so I'm used to starting conversations with people who didn't come in to talk to me. I want a job where that's the whole day rather than a bit of it." Thirty seconds, done. You've also steered the conversation onto ground you chose, which is worth more than it sounds when the next question could go anywhere. Say it out loud a dozen times beforehand so it stops sounding recited, then let it come out slightly differently on the day.

2. "Why recruitment - and why us?"

Two questions in one, both scored. The first separates people who understand the job from people who read one advert. The second catches everyone who applied to fifteen agencies with the same letter.

For the why-recruitment half, be honest about the parts that appeal: people, pace, results you can see, earnings tied to effort. Wanting to earn is fine here. Recruiters are not squeamish about money. For the why-us half you need five minutes of research: what they specialise in, where they place people, something on their website or socials you can actually mention. "You do a lot of the warehousing round the industrial estate, which is where half my mates work, so I'd already know what shifts people will say yes to" beats any amount of enthusiasm.

3. "You've got a job to fill and nobody has applied. What would you do?"

The sourcing question. It separates candidates who think recruitment is posting adverts from candidates who already understand it isn't. There's no perfect answer. There's a visible thought process, which is what they're marking.

Talk through steps: search the database for people who applied for something similar before, look at who's recently become available, ask the candidates you do have whether they know anybody, try different words in the search because job titles vary wildly, then go back to the client and check whether the shift pattern or pay is the real problem. That last one impresses interviewers more than anything else, because it shows you'd challenge a brief instead of chasing an impossible one.

4. "Sell me something on my desk"

The oldest trick in the book. Plenty of agencies have dropped it, plenty haven't, so be ready. What's being tested is not slickness. It's whether you ask questions before you start talking.

The losing answer launches straight into features. The winning one asks first: what do you currently use, what annoys you about it, how often do you need it? Then you sell against the answers. "You said your last one kept running out mid-meeting - this one's got a spare cartridge in the lid." Two questions before the pitch is the entire trick. It's also exactly how a good recruiter takes a job brief from a client who's in a hurry, which is why the exercise survives.

5. "How would you handle being told no all day?"

The resilience question, asked kindly but scored seriously. Agencies lose trainees to this more than to anything else, so they'd genuinely rather find out now.

Don't claim it wouldn't bother you. Nobody believes that. Show the pattern instead: something you kept going at after knockbacks, what you actually did to keep going, how it turned out. "I rang forty businesses for raffle prizes and got told no about thirty times. I started keeping a tally so the noes felt like progress towards the yeses rather than a run of failures. We ended up with twelve." That's the STAR habit doing its quiet work - a situation, an action, a result you can state out loud.

6. "A candidate doesn't turn up for their first shift. Talk me through your morning"

A judgement question wearing an emergency costume. They want to see the order you do things in, plus whether you tell people bad news early.

Sequence it out loud: try the candidate first on every number you've got, tell the client straight away rather than hoping the person appears, start looking for cover immediately from the people you already know are available, then find out afterwards what went wrong so it doesn't repeat. The detail that wins this question is ringing the client early. New starters everywhere are tempted to fix it quietly first. Managers want to hear the opposite.

7. "A client says your shortlist isn't good enough. How do you respond?"

Feedback under pressure, which is most of this job. The wrong answer gets defensive or instantly agrees without learning anything.

Go for curious. "I'd thank them, then ask which parts missed - was it the experience, the availability, the salary expectations? Then I'd go back out with a tighter picture." Add one line showing you'd take it personally in the useful way rather than the miserable way. Interviewers are listening for somebody who treats criticism as information, because they'll be giving you plenty of it in your first six months. One more thing that lands well here: say you'd ask the client whether the brief has changed since you took it. Half the time it has. Nobody thought to tell you.

8. "This job is target-driven. How does that sit with you?"

Not a trick, an honesty check. They need to know whether targets sharpen you or flatten you. They would much rather hear the truth now than discover it in month three, when they've already spent a training budget on you.

If you like a target, say so and prove it: a sales figure at a Saturday job, a fundraising goal, a personal best you chased for a season. If targets make you nervous, don't lie. Say what you actually find motivating about visible progress, then ask how targets work in their first six months. A trainee who asks that question sounds thoughtful rather than nervous. Whatever you do, don't say targets don't apply to you because you'd just work hard. Everybody says it. Nobody means anything by it.

9. "What's your biggest weakness?"

Still asked, still dreaded, still revealing. Both fake answers - the humblebrag and the shrug - tell an experienced interviewer plenty.

Pick something real, small and already improving. "I used to hate ringing people I didn't know. I made myself do the raffle calls for the school fundraiser and it's got a lot easier, though I still write the first line down before I dial." Real, honest, mid-repair, relevant. Two traps to dodge. Don't pick a weakness that sinks the job itself, so nothing about hating the phone or dreading pressure. And never pick a fake one hoping to sound impressive, because interviewers have heard "I just care too much" more times than you've had hot dinners.

10. "Any questions for us?"

Not politeness. The final scored section of the exam, as our sitewide guide to fantastic interviews puts it. "No, I think you've covered everything" throws a whole turn away.

Bring three or four written down, genuinely wanted. "What does a good first three months look like here?" "How does the commission scheme work for resourcers?" "What separates the trainees who stay from the ones who don't?" That middle one is not cheeky. Asking about money in a commission industry reads as commercial rather than rude. It also gets you information you genuinely need before you accept anything, which beats finding out in your first payslip.

That's the paper. None of it needs charisma, just an evening spent building answers out loud from things you've genuinely done. Sort what you're wearing with our interview clothes guide, make sure the CV that got you here has a letter to match via the recruitment CV and cover letter guide, then work back through the recruitment hub for anything you've skipped. Keep applying while you prepare too, because the best interview practice is a real one: browse live recruitment jobs tonight.