Interview Questions to Ask When Hiring a Recruiter
Twenty questions for vetting an external recruiter or search firm before you sign an agreement. They cover the commercial terms, who will actually do the work, how candidates are found and screened, what the recruiter needs from you, and the searches they have failed to fill.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Which roles like ours have you filled in the past year, and where did those candidates come from?
Why ask it
Recent, comparable placements are the only claim worth much here. Pay attention to the source: a recruiter whose hires all came from inbound applications is competing with your own job advert, not adding to it.
Are you working on contingency or retained terms, and what is the fee?
Why ask it
Contingency means they are paid only on a placement, so your role competes for their attention with every other open search. Retained means committed effort and money at risk on your side, so ask what you get if it fails.
What is the guarantee period if a placement leaves, and what does it cover?
Why ask it
The useful details are the length, whether you get a rebate or a replacement search, and what voids it. A guarantee that lapses at three months covers almost nothing, since most mishires are still settling in at that point.
How many searches are you personally running right now?
Why ask it
A specific number is a good sign, and a high one is not automatically bad if the roles are similar. What you are listening for is whether they can say, since recruiters who dodge this usually know the answer is uncomfortable.
Will you be doing the work yourself, or does it move to a researcher after the pitch?
Why ask it
Common practice in agencies is for a senior person to sell and a junior one to deliver. Neither is wrong, but you should know whose calendar your candidates will be on and meet that person before you sign.
How do you reach people who are not looking for a job?
Why ask it
Ask for the actual method: mapped target companies, referrals from previous placements, a specific community. Answers built entirely on job boards and database searches mean you are paying a fee to duplicate work you can do.
Walk me through everything you do between briefing and sending us a shortlist.
Why ask it
You want a described sequence with a screening step in it. Recruiters who forward everything they find and let you filter are transferring their work to your hiring manager while charging a placement fee for it.
What would make you tell us that our job specification or our salary range is wrong?
Why ask it
A recruiter who has never pushed back on a client is an order-taker. The good ones will say plainly when a range will not clear the market, and they will usually bring evidence when they do.
Realistically, how long until a first shortlist, and how long until an offer for a role like this?
Why ask it
Two numbers rather than one, because they diverge for different reasons. Short shortlist times with long offer times often mean the shortlist is not actually screened.
What do you need from us for this to work?
Why ask it
Strong recruiters have a list ready: interview slots held in advance, a named decision-maker, feedback within a day or two. If they ask for nothing, they are either very experienced or not planning to work the search hard.
How often will we hear from you, and in what form?
Why ask it
Agree a cadence and a format now, a weekly written update with names contacted and responses, so an absence of news becomes visible rather than something you find out about in week five.
How do you describe us to candidates, and can I see what you send them?
Why ask it
They are speaking for your organisation to people you may want to hire later. Asking to see the outreach message is reasonable, and the quality of it predicts your acceptance rate more than their pitch does.
If a candidate asks why the last person in this role left, what do you say?
Why ask it
This tests discretion and honesty at once. You want an answer that is truthful without being indiscreet, because a recruiter who will improvise on this will improvise on other things.
What do you do when a candidate you like wants more than our range?
Why ask it
The unhelpful pattern is a recruiter who pushes you upward every time, since a higher salary means a larger fee. Look for someone who will discuss the whole package, the level, or the scope of the role instead.
How do you widen the pool beyond the obvious profiles?
Why ask it
Ask for concrete practice: where they look outside the usual companies, how they treat non-linear career histories, how they write outreach. Statements of commitment without method usually produce the same shortlist as everyone else.
Do you have any off-limits agreements that stop you approaching certain companies?
Why ask it
Firms often agree not to poach from current clients, which can quietly exclude your best target employers. This is rarely volunteered and it directly limits what you are buying, so ask which companies are out of bounds.
How would you run this if we could not be named until late in the process?
Why ask it
Confidential searches are a real skill, and the answer tells you how they sell a role without a brand behind it. It also matters for internal moves and replacement hires where discretion is a condition.
Can we speak to two clients who hired a similar role, including one where the search was difficult?
Why ask it
The second half is the request that matters. Any recruiter can produce a delighted reference from an easy placement, and the client whose search went badly will tell you how they behave when things are not working.
What have you failed to fill in the past year, and what happened?
Why ask it
Everyone has one. A recruiter who can describe a failed search and what they learned is far more credible than one who claims a perfect record, and the reasons they give often reveal how they diagnose problems.
If we ended the engagement after six weeks, what would we owe and what would we keep?
Why ask it
Settle the exit before you start: notice period, any retained instalments already due, and whether the candidate research and contact list stays with you. This is the clause people wish they had read.
Choosing and managing a search partner
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Settle the commercial terms before the search starts
- Get the fee basis in writing, including how the percentage is calculated: base salary only, or base plus bonus, commission, and sign-on payments.
- Fix the guarantee period, what triggers it, and whether it pays a rebate or a replacement search. Ask what voids it, since redundancy and restructuring usually do.
- Agree the ownership of candidates introduced but not hired, and for how long an introduction counts. This clause causes most of the disputes.
- Write down the notice period on both sides and what is owed if you stop early.
- For a retained search, tie the instalments to deliverables such as a market map and a shortlist rather than to dates alone.
Brief them properly, then judge the shortlist
The brief determines the shortlist
Give them the real requirements, the parts of the job that are unattractive, the interview panel, the salary range, and the decision timeline. Recruiters who are briefed with only a job description produce shortlists assembled from keywords, and the fault is genuinely shared.
Judge the first three profiles, not the pitch
The strongest signal you will get arrives with the first shortlist. Look at whether the profiles reflect the conversation you had, whether the notes tell you something you could not read off a CV, and whether obviously wrong candidates are in there to make up numbers.
Give fast, specific feedback
Recruiters calibrate from your reasons for rejection. Saying not senior enough within a day changes the next batch, while silence for a week means the next batch will look like the last one and your search will slow down.
Signals worth acting on
Volume in place of screening
A stream of loosely matched CVs in the first week usually means a database search rather than a search. Ask what screening happened on each one, and if the answer is thin, say that you will only review profiles that come with notes from a conversation.
Pressure on your timeline or your range
Urgency about signing, or repeated arguments that your salary band must rise, both point at the fee rather than the hire. Market evidence is welcome, and pressure without evidence is a reason to slow down.
How they treat candidates they place elsewhere
Ask what happens to a candidate they interview who is not right for your role. Recruiters who describe keeping in touch honestly tend to be the ones whose introductions accept your offers, because their reputation with candidates is doing the work.
Start with one role
Give a new recruiter a single search that matters before agreeing to a multi-role arrangement. One completed search tells you more than any reference call, and it costs you nothing extra to sequence it that way.