Questions to Ask Your Recruiter

Recruiters can be described as anything from a godsend to a necessary evil. We’re a little biased here at Australasian, so we hope to be a necessary godsend for you. The key reason for this being, we may well be the deciding factor as to whether or not you get a job and we hope to be a blessing to deal with. As recruiters, we’ll have lots of questions for you, but what questions should you have for us?

General – The Top 5

1. What roles have you filled with CV’s like mine during the pandemic?

It makes sense to ask questions with the pandemic in mind at the moment. These aren’t normal market conditions, so you need to know (a) where you stand, (b) how likely it will be that the recruiter can help you, and (c) what role they may be able to find for you. The above will give you a good perspective on all three – you need to know if they can truly help you, and what role that actually looks like to ensure the registration is worth pursuing.

2. What will give me the very best chance of securing a role?

You are currently in competition with many people who are in the same boat and who have a similar CV to yours. At the moment it is a Client’s market – they hold the power and at times like this you want to be very flexible in your approach. You need to know (a) what is the best route for you? Temp or Perm? and (b) what type of job? A step up, down or across?

3. What money should I be asking for?

It’s probably not a time to be dictating terms. Instead, ask the recruiter what salary or hourly rate will make you competitive in the marketplace. What salary or hourly rate will make you great value for money? With companies beginning to hire again, most will be on the lookout not just for quality, but also for value. If you are willing to accept what you can live on to start with, without underselling yourself, you are more likely to find a job more quickly. Top tip: Do this before you think you should, not when you have to two months later, wishing you had done so sooner. Your recruiter will know the number.

4. What can I do now to improve my chances?

This is a great time to find out if there is one skill, or one IT package, which – if you had it on your CV today – would make an immediate, or at the very least a quantifiable difference. What is there a shortage of in the marketplace that you could reasonably attain and which would make you that person in demand?

5. What can I do to improve my interview technique?

So much depends on the interview. Interviewing well is a skill that can be learned. Ask your recruiters – what qualities do the most proficient candidates exhibit during interviews? What qualities do I have? What do I need to work on? You have to be open-minded and completely non-defensive to get the most out of their answer. They have seen and discussed hundreds of interviews; their advice is probably sound. Don’t discredit it just because you don’t like or agree with it. If you’re lucky enough to get a good answer, be willing to take on board and seek to improve. It could make all the difference.

Specific Job-related –The Top 10

The below are fairly self-explanatory in their purpose.  Make sure you ask all of these questions all of the time for each role and with each recruiter. One of the big advantages of using a recruiter is that you can ask these questions and you’ll get a really good idea of your chances of securing the role as a result. It’s much harder to do so when approaching an employer directly, so make the most of this advantage when dealing with your agencies.

1. How long has the client been looking and when is the ideal start date?
2. What is the reason for the vacancy – has someone been promoted, has someone left, is it a newly created role?
3. What adjectives would you use to describe the company culture?
4. How long do people tend to stay at the company?
5. What examples of progression are there at the company from roles similar to the one for which you are applying?
6. How many recruiters are recruiting this role?
7. How many candidates will be submitted in total? (and later in the process – how many candidates are interviewing?)
8. What type of questions will they ask me in the interview?
9. What types of personal qualities and characteristics does the employer tend to look out for?
10. If I was lucky enough to be successful, how long after my interview might an offer be forthcoming?

And with a lot of work, interview preparation and a dose of luck, there will hopefully be an 11^th question to finish – when do we celebrate me getting that job?

If you are a candidate looking for your next temporary or permanent business support role in London, or a client requiring assistance in recruitment please contact our team so we can help you with your search at hello@australasian.co.uk

Take care and we hope to see you soon!