How Does a Recruiter Assess You During a Phone Interview?

[JeffAltmanCoach]

SUMMARY:

I received this question from someone that I liked and thought I would answer. The question boils down to, “How does a recruiter assess you during a phone interview?”

Understand, they are there because a client, a company, an employer, a hiring manager has asked them to find people with a particular background and, if they do, they will be paid it. If this is a retained search it, obviously they are being paid a certain amount up front to retain them to do this, but, ultimately, they have to evaluate and assess people for their qualifications for a job. So they have a job description (this is my hand with the job description) and they are there to ask questions to get a baseline for how you fit that position or other positions their office is recruiting for.

So, for example, they may have five positions that are pretty similar that their office is trying to fill and they’re going to mentally see how you fit into each and every one of them based upon similarities and dissimilarities period.

Here’s how it goes. They’ll call, introduce themselves or schedule a time to speak with you and the first thing they’re doing is getting a sense of your oral communications and your, self-confidence, by how you say things. So, if you come across as being timid, they file that away. If you come across with poor oral communications, they file that away as part of the evaluation criteria that their client has asked that they assess for.

So, let’s progress. We have oral communications. Now, we have the requirements of the position or positions that they have to match. They might save you, “tell me about your work with such and such.” They’ll listen and, based upon what is there, they will get a flavor for whether you fit into that role. After all, if it says four years of experience with such and such you have one, that’s pretty clear. You are not going to be qualified and, plead though you might, you are not can be qualified because the client is not going to be interested.

So, they are there to assess. Now, if you say you have three and they’re looking for four, they may advocate for you based upon other factors. But it starts off with how do you meet the job description and the qualifications of the job that is prompted them to call you … Or multiple jobs.

From there, it’s how does your salary match up with what the client or clients is willing to pay. Their client is willing to pay $80,000 per year and you’re looking for $120,000. The buzzer goes off. I’m sorry you are disqualified because their client is not going to increase their budget by $40,000 just to hire you.

So, the answer is pretty easy. How do you match up with the client and what the client has specified that they are looking for. How do you match up from an oral communications standpoint? Do you present your ideas clearly? Do you seem like you’re a liar? Do you seem like you are nervous? Nervous people with a recruiter, whether corporate or third-party, don’t do well when they are actually brought in to meet with the end client. They tend to come across as fearful.

Thus, I remind you the most important thing I can alert you to–one of the things that you are selling to that recruiter and every person you meet with is the degree to which they can trust you.

I was coaching someone yesterday who is an attorney. He’s up for position with… I won’t go into the details of the position. I will simply say that he will be working closely with a wealthy individual and their family. The question came down to, “What are they going to ask me about? I’ve already done this kind of work with another family before. What are they going to be looking for?”

The answer I said is “can the patriarch of the family trust you? Can they trust you to handle their family and responsibilities well in a way that they would want it done.”

Same things he is going to happen with you. They have to trust you. You can do this job, that you can fit in, that you have the qualifications and that they won’t ever have to worry about you again.

So, that’s always the wildcard in this. You and the interviewer have to connect every step along the way.

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