Testing Recruiter Skills and Traits

Overview of the position

Hiring a recruiter is a high-stakes decision. They will play a key role in building your team and have a huge influence on your company culture and the success of your business. Recruiters find candidates for your open jobs. They create your job posts, do the initial screening of applicants, sometimes are involved in interviewing, and negotiate pay and benefits. Some are also responsible for selecting technologies that manage the hiring process.

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Key skills and abilities

Effective recruiters all share certain aptitudes and qualities. For example, they are:

Excellent at networking and building relationships
Good verbal, written, and visual communicators
Great listeners that can read and control body language
Emotionally intelligent
Masters of media and technology
Skilled at multitasking and time management
Proficient at using data

What qualities make a great recruiter?

A good professional recruiter is a people person. They truly enjoy getting to know people and matching them to opportunities. They not only ask the right questions, they care about the answers and make effective communication a priority.

It isn't just about writing a job description or a job offer; good recruiters can read body language and perceive communication nuances. They not only form productive relationships with hiring managers, they find and connect with strong candidates and work to ensure a good candidate experience. They are comfortable playing many roles, multitasking, and changing gears fast.

Which tests can you use to assess recruitment skills?

Due to the multi-faceted nature of the recruiter's role, you may want to administer several types of tests in order to fully understand a candidate's strengths and weaknesses.

Personality test

Learn about the real person behind the resume to see if they will be a good fit in the role and within your company.

Logic test

Gauge your candidates' ability to think critically, apply sound reasoning, and solve problems.

Basic academic combination assessment

Assess spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and basic math skills with one convenient test.

Custom job assessment

Your industry and culture are unique, which means the role of a recruiter at your company may include some specific responsibilities. Creating a custom assessment can help you find the right person for your business's needs.

How to test recruiters or headhunters

It's best to test recruiters and headhunters early in the interview process. You'll save time by weeding out candidates who don't have the recruitment skills you seek or who might not be a good culture fit or add.

Pre-employment tests help expedite the screening and shortlisting of candidates, allowing you to focus your hiring resources on the very best candidates for the job. In a tight labor market, you risk losing the best hire if your process is too lengthy and slow.

Why to assess skills and traits before hiring a recruiter

Recruiters play an important role within your company, which means hiring the wrong one can present some serious negative situations. For example, without assessing candidates’ skills and personality prior to hiring, you may end up hiring recruiters who:

Struggle to find quality candidates
Can't manage an efficient recruiting process
Are unresponsive to candidates and hiring managers
Create bad first impression for your company
Are unable to communicate clearly
Don't make effective use of technology
Fail to manage tasks and time well

Risks you avoid by assessing recruiters before hiring.

How Hire Success can help with assessing recruitment skills.

Hire recruiters that won't create a bad reputation for your company

When it comes to roles that have a major impact on your business, you can't afford to leave hiring decisions to gut feels and guesses. Using a skills test for recruitment specialists can help make your hiring system more transparent and objective. You'll be able to spot the best candidates and evaluate each one with greater confidence.

Learn more about how Hire Success^® can help you:

Request a demo Request your free quote