Questions to Ask Campus Recruiters
Campus recruiters own the process rather than the work, so the best use of a few minutes with them is process: which roles are open, what the screen actually is, what the timeline looks like, and what happens next. These twenty questions are for a career fair table, an information session, or a first call with a graduate recruiting team.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Which roles are you hiring for from this campus this year, and roughly how many?
Why ask it
Recruiters know the requisition count and whether this is a large intake or two positions. It tells you your realistic odds and whether the role you want is even open here, which the careers site often does not.
Is this a structured programme with rotations, or am I hired straight into one team?
Why ask it
Rotations trade depth for breadth and usually mean less choice over your first placement. Ask which it is before you decide how much the brand name is worth to you, since the two produce very different second jobs.
What is the timeline: when do applications close, and when do offers go out?
Why ask it
Graduate hiring often runs earlier than students expect and on a rolling basis, so a posted deadline can be irrelevant if the intake fills. The dates also let you sequence your other applications so you are not deciding on one offer alone.
What are the steps after today, and who will contact me?
Why ask it
Get the sequence and a name. Knowing whether the next stage is an online assessment, a phone screen or a superday tells you what to prepare, and having a named contact makes following up possible.
Is there a grade or coursework screen, and is it a firm cut?
Why ask it
Some employers filter on a threshold before a human reads anything, and recruiters will usually tell you plainly if asked directly. If you are below it, there is no point polishing an application, and it is better to know now.
Do you sponsor work authorisation for these roles, and does it vary by role or location?
Why ask it
This is a hard gate that no amount of interview performance changes, and it can differ between teams inside the same company. Ask early so you spend your effort on employers who can actually hire you.
Which locations are these roles in, and how much say do I get?
Why ask it
Placement is often driven by business need rather than preference, and finding out after signing is a common source of first-job regret. Ask what happens if you decline the location you are offered.
What share of your interns get full-time offers?
Why ask it
An internship is only a reliable path if the conversion rate is high, and recruiters usually know the figure. A low or evasive answer means you should treat the internship as a summer job rather than a route in.
How do you prefer applications: your portal, our careers centre, or a referral?
Why ask it
Some pipelines are effectively closed except through campus systems, and applications submitted the wrong way sometimes never reach a reviewer. This is a two-second question that changes whether you are seen at all.
What does each interview stage actually test, and how should I prepare for it?
Why ask it
Recruiters run the process and will often describe the format candidly, including whether it is technical, case-based or behavioural. It is the single highest-return question at a career fair and very few students ask it.
What makes a resume stand out for this role when most of them look similar?
Why ask it
The answer tends to be specific and slightly unexpected: a particular course, a project with measurable output, evidence of shipping something. It is also a better use of the conversation than handing over a resume for a glance.
Who from my school joined in the past couple of years, and could I speak to them?
Why ask it
This gets you a name, and a graduate two years in will tell you things the recruiter cannot about the work and the hours. Recruiters often welcome the request because those conversations improve their conversion.
What would I be doing in the first six months, in concrete terms?
Why ask it
Push past the development narrative to actual tasks and tools. If the recruiter cannot answer, ask to be connected to someone in the role, since a vague first six months is often an unstructured one.
What is the pay range, does it vary by location, and is there a signing or relocation payment?
Why ask it
Graduate pay is usually banded, so recruiters can answer this without awkwardness and expect the question. Location adjustments and one-off payments can change the comparison between two offers considerably.
How long would I have to decide, and is that flexible if my other processes finish later?
Why ask it
Short offer deadlines are used deliberately to prevent comparison shopping. Many employers will extend when asked, and knowing the norm before you receive the offer makes the request much easier.
How long do people usually stay in this programme, and what do they do next?
Why ask it
Whether alumni of the programme move up internally or leave after two years tells you what the role really is: a training ground, a pipeline, or a source of cheap early-career labour. Recruiters will often frame either honestly.
What happens if the team I am placed in turns out not to suit me?
Why ask it
Ask whether internal moves are possible in the first year and how often they happen. A company with a real process for this is a much safer bet than one where your first placement decides several years.
What is the most common reason candidates do not make it through the final stage?
Why ask it
Recruiters see the pattern across hundreds of interviews and the answer is usually specific: no examples, unclear reasoning out loud, no questions asked. It is free coaching for the stage that matters most.
How much of this role is in the office, and how much travel is involved?
Why ask it
Client-facing graduate roles can involve far more travel than the description suggests, and hybrid policies vary by team rather than by company. Ask for a normal week rather than the policy.
Looking at my background, is there anything that would concern you for this role?
Why ask it
A direct question that most students avoid, and recruiters will often answer it usefully: a missing course, no relevant internship, a gap. You can address it in the application rather than being screened out silently.
Making Career Fairs and Info Sessions Count
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before You Get in the Queue
Pick five employers, not twenty
You will get perhaps three useful minutes each, and a scattered afternoon produces nothing memorable. Research five, prepare a specific question for each, and use the remaining time to talk to the engineers or analysts standing behind the table.
Know which questions belong to which person
Recruiters can answer process, timeline, locations, pay bands and sponsorship. Only the practitioners at the stand can tell you what the work is like, so split your questions accordingly rather than asking a recruiter about day-to-day tasks.
Look up whether the role is even open here
Some companies attend fairs for visibility while hiring almost nobody from that campus. Checking the postings first stops you spending your best twenty minutes at a table with no requisitions.
Have a thirty second version of yourself ready
Course, one relevant thing you have built or done, and what you are looking for. It should end with a question rather than a request, because the conversation is what you came for.
At the Table
- Get a name and an email, written down before you walk away. Without a contact, everything you learned is unusable.
- Ask process questions first. They are the ones only a recruiter can answer and the ones that decide whether you get to the next stage.
- Skip the questions answered on the first page of the careers site. Recruiters notice, and it is the fastest way to become forgettable.
- If a queue is forming, ask your best question and offer to follow up by email rather than lingering.
- Note anything specific they say about preparation or resumes. That is the part you will use next week.
Common Mistakes
Asking about culture
Recruiters are required to say the culture is collaborative and supportive, so the answer carries no information. Ask instead about the interview process, conversion rates or placement, where they have facts.
Leading with benefits
Holiday, remote days and perks are reasonable things to care about and a poor opening. Ask about them once you are in a process, or look them up, and use your first conversation on things you cannot find written down.
Not applying that week
Many graduate pipelines review on a rolling basis and close when they are full. A good conversation followed by an application three weeks later often arrives after the intake has been decided.
Only talking to the biggest names
The longest queues are usually the lowest odds. Mid-sized employers at the same fair often have unfilled positions, faster processes and recruiters with time to actually answer your questions.
Afterwards
- 1Email within a day, referencing something specific from the conversation and attaching your resume.
- 2Apply through the route they told you to use, even if another route looks easier.
- 3Follow up on any introduction they offered to a recent graduate from your school, and do it within the week.
- 4Put every deadline they mentioned into a calendar, along with the date you should chase if you have heard nothing.
- 5Write down what they said the process tests, and prepare for that specifically rather than for interviews in general.