Tell me about a time when you had to manage multiple staffing projects at once. How did you prioritize your time to ensure success with every project?

"I have held several roles where I had multiple conflicting priorities. Most of the time, I will go to my boss and work out an important/urgent scale to rate the tasks I have to complete. If something is urgent and important, it gets the highest priority mark, and I work on those items first. I fill gaps in my schedule with projects of a lesser priority. As a successful recruiter for the past six years, using technology like my Outlook calendar and OneNote was vitally important in helping me track progress and block appropriate times for meeting deadlines. As a result of this planning technique, I have been able to meet deadlines for all of my projects."

It is commonplace for staffing managers to be working on several projects at one time. This can include multiple recruitment efforts and the development of different training programs for staff. In asking this question, your interviewer is ideally looking to hear that you can multitask with effectiveness and stay organized in all of the work that you would be doing for their organization. As you answer, try to give examples of how you have prioritized your work in the past. If possible, talk about the methods you use to stay on track. As well, don't hesitate to talk about a time when you had too much work on your plate, and you had to involve others. This will give your interviewer a good sense that you know when to ask for assistance.

Tell me about a time when you implemented recruiting metrics into your work. What metrics did you use?

"I have used many different types of metrics in the past. The type of metrics you use in recruiting is often based on the specific organization and jobs that you recruit for. In the past, I have used time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and attrition in the first year. I have also been using a new metric for quality of hire. We use this metric to track how new hires perform. We then compare the stats with the employee's specific information to see if we can identify patterns in quality candidates. I also find it very important to use sourcing metrics to find out where our best hires are sourced from so we can focus our recruitment advertising budgets in those spaces."

Measuring and analyzing data in the recruitment process are vital to the success of the entire recruitment process. In the end, putting metrics to use is the best way to hire the best candidates and save money in the end. By asking this question, your interviewer is interested in hearing how you have put recruitment metrics to your work in the past. They are also interested in the metrics that you would provide to hiring managers at their organization. For this question, provide them with a quick list of some of the measures you have used in the past and why these metrics were important. In the end, make sure that your interview knows that you believe in using recruitment metrics to better the work that you would be doing at their organization.

Tell me about a time when you built rapport quickly with someone under difficult conditions.

"Last year, I was assigned support of a recruitment effort for the new Chief Financial Officer at my organization, and this gave me my first opportunity to work hand in hand with our CEO. While I had met her and talked with her in the past, this opportunity could have been one where I came in with a pit in my stomach and a nervous wreck. Rather, I grabbed the bull by the horns and scheduled a meeting for the two of us to discuss the details of the role, the ideal candidate, and how we should attack the recruitment process. I laid out a plan of action in that meeting and made this recruitment effort a top priority. During the process, I scheduled weekly 15-minute check-ins for us, which was key to quickly building that trust and rapport with her. I am happy to report that we had a new CFO starting just five months after the position became open."

As a successful Staffing Manager, you need to have the ability to build trust quickly with the large team of hiring managers that you will be supporting at this organization. At some point during your time with them, your interviewer will be trying to determine if you have the ability to extend an olive branch and be the hero in the recruitment process. Come to your interview prepared to talk about how you build trust quickly with those you have worked with in the past. To reiterate your ability to do this in short order, try to relate it to a high-needs recruitment effort you have faced during your career.

As our next Staffing Manager, what experience would you bring in handling employee discipline. What are key things involved in ensuring that employee discipline is fair and just?

"This would be my first leadership role, so I haven't disciplined employees in the past. However, I did attend a supervisor training program in anticipation of my first leadership role. In the class, I learned about how to discipline staff properly. First, you have to identify the rule violation or work product problem. Once you identify the issue, it is important to coach the employee and have an honest conversation about performance. I also learned that you should sandwich feedback by telling the employee something they did well before giving feedback about their performance. I know that working closely with the supervisor or manager to ensure that malfeasance was clearly documented. If hired for this role, I would likely seek assistance from my HR Manager the first time I had to discipline someone, really to ensure that I had all parts of the process in place."

It is important to understand that you are applying and interviewing for a management role as the next Staffing Manager with this organization. Part of that management duty as the next Staffing Manager will be employee disciplinary processes. With this question, your interviewer is checking to see if you have direct experience handling the full spectrum of the employee disciplinary spectrum. If you do, share a specific example and show your interviewer that you believe that a solid disciplinary system benefits both the employer and its staff. If you do not have this experience, tell the interviewer what you know about how to fairly discipline employees.

Tell me about a time when you had to tell a hiring manager that they had a very difficult to fill role. How did you handle that situation?

"Luckily, I have not had many positions that I was unable to fill in a short amount of time. However, I have had a few. We often struggled to fill engineering positions, and one time we ran recruitment for 90 days and could not find any qualified applicants. I went to the hiring manager and made several suggestions. The first was to re-review the pay for the position, the second was to offer some remote work as a draw to attract new applicants, and finally, I was able to convince the manager to re-review the position to see if we were able to make any changes that would attract more candidates. We were able to fill the position 60 days after we made these changes. In this situation, it was vital to be able to adapt to a changing workforce."

Everyone who has been a recruiter long enough has had a role they knew would be a struggle to recruit for. Luckily, most hiring managers are aware of specific roles that will be difficult to recruit for. By asking this question, your interviewer is trying to find out how you handle these situations and what recommendations you will make to the hiring managers at their organization. As you answer, try to stay focused on championing a solid recruitment plan with your hiring managers.

How would you rate your written communication skills? Why are written skills important for a successful Staffing Manager?

"I would rate my written communication skills as excellent. Almost all of my communications with colleagues and job candidates are handled via email in today's virtual world. I take my time drafting communications and always proofread before clicking the send button to ensure there are no errors in my communications. When I work on documents like offer letters and policies outside of Outlook, I use Grammarly to double-check my grammar and spelling on documents."

A great Staffing Manager needs to have solid written communication skills. Your interviewer will be expecting their next Staffing Manager to write clear and effective offer letters, communicate clearly with job candidates via email and write productive memos and communications for internal staff. Your interviewer is asking you to rate your communication skills to get an idea of how well you will handle these important duties in this role. As you rate yourself in your answer, be sure to talk about your experience in writing effective communications and emails in your work and why doing so is important.

What would you say you like least about being a Staffing Manager?

"The one thing that has caused frustration during my career is when a candidate gets upset about an offer. Early in my career, I felt disappointed that I could not provide them with an exciting offer. Since I have been doing this work for a long time, I have learned which questions to ask applicants early to lessen disappointment at the offer stage. I also like to have pretty forthright conversations with candidates on their salary expectations so we don't waste too much of anyone's time in an interview process if we can't make the financial pieces work. It still happens from time to time, but it happens much less frequently now that I work to take preventative measures."

During your interview time, your interviewer will be looking to see if you can give honest feedback about what you do not like about your job. They'll want to hear that you can identify the parts of your job that you like the least and that you have a plan for tackling these duties with ease and competence. Before your interview, try to think of the one duty that you have been uncomfortable handling during your career and be able to talk about the ways that you've been working to improve in this area.

Why is attention to detail so important in the work of a Staffing Manager? How can you bring this skill to our team?

"I am a very detail orientated person, and that is one of the reasons I chose to take a career path as a Staffing Manager. We get to work with a wide array of people to solve staffing challenges throughout an organization, and the variety of our work requires attention to detail. When I create a position description with a hiring manager to use in a job advertisement, I go over it with a fine-tooth comb to ensure that there are no grammar or spelling mistakes. I know that a small published mistake here can reflect very poorly on my organization. I find that paying attention to detail really comes down to being organized and setting aside the time to double-check things. If hired on your team, you rest assured knowing that you'd be hiring a detailed Staffing Manager."

Working in recruitment and staffing requires precise attention to detail, and this will be expected of the candidate hired to be this organization's next Staffing Manager. If asked this question during your time with them, your interviewer is trying to ensure that you have the ability to pay attention to the fine details when creating job postings, reviewing candidate resumes, and putting together details for job offers. As you answer, talk about why you feel that attention to detail is so important in this job and use an example of a complicated project where you had to pay attention to the fine details to be successful.

We have the full expectation that our next Staffing Manager will be a great communicator that is well respected. Do others respect you and listen to you?

"Yes, I know that they do. I build respect in the workplace by being thorough, well educated, and following through on what I say that I'm going to do in a timely manner. Most people treat me with respect because I treat them with the same respect that I would want to be treated with. I also believe that people listen to me because they know I am also a good listener and communicator. My co-workers often look to me for advice since I have so many years of experience and am willing to take the time to lend a helping hand when called upon."

A successful Staffing Manager at this organization will be working with all of the key leaders and hiring managers. Your interviewer will be looking to hear how you build trusting and respectful relationships with those you work with. As you answer, try to reiterate to your interviewer how you build respect with others. Also, be sure to highlight the importance of clear and thorough communication in your work to help build the trust and respect needed in this job.

If offered this role as our next Staffing Manager, do you have any salary expectations?

"I have reviewed the salary for the role, and I am confident that my expectations fall within your pay range. Most important to me is finding a career with a great organization that values its employees. I would be happy to discuss salary further if I were to be formally offered this position."

The dreaded question on salary expectations comes up from time to time during the interview process, and you know this well as a professional in the staffing industry. While there are many ways to answer this question, from being very direct with your expectations to leaving the door wide open, there are some things to think about before your interview to determine how to best answer this question. First, it is important to determine where you are in the interview process when this question comes up. If you are early in the interview process where multiple candidates are in play, you don't want to price yourself out of the process. Your research into the industry and organization you are interviewing with will also be vital. More often than not, it is best to give a pay range that you are willing to accept if offered the role. Be fair to yourself and your family while not setting the bar outside of the organization's pay range.

When do you give positive feedback to people? Tell me about the last time you did.

"I have found that positive feedback is the best overall motivator for my employees. Therefore, I try to give positive feedback as often as I can. I also try to give feedback as close in proximity to the action I am trying to reinforce. I try not to overpraise, so when I give positive feedback, the employees know it's genuine. A couple of months ago, I noticed the extra work that a team member put in for a difficult hiring manager. When they made a great hire for the manager's team, I called that out in our bi-weekly team meeting, and the employee felt great about that little acknowledgment among our team."

In looking to be this organization's next Staffing Manager, it is important to remember that you are interviewing for a management position. During your interview, your interviewer wants to know that you can motivate your team by being a positive influence on them. Be open about your management style in a question like this. Remember that you need to prove that you are a great cultural fit in this organization, and your ability to prove you are a positive and influential leader will put you in the driver's seat for this role.

What was the most useful criticism you ever received during your career in recruitment and staffing?

"I value all feedback that I receive and really treat it as a gift. There is one time that stands out in my mind. I was new to the recruitment field, and I made an offer that upset an applicant. I did not have patience with the applicant because I felt they were disrespectful about the offer. My boss called me into her office and explained that applicants often have a number in mind for a salary, even if they do not share that with the hiring team. She encouraged me to use open-ended questions with the applicant to find out what the applicant really needed. To this day, I continue to use open-ended questions during salary negotiations with all of my applicants ."

By asking this question, your interviewer wants to ensure you can receive and implement positive feedback if hired as their next Staffing Manager. If asked this question during your interviewer, there's a good chance that you could be working with some hard to please hiring managers. To have success with them in this role, you will need to have the ability to take their criticism and run with it. Ensure you use an example where the feedback helped correct a process, and you could implement the feedback to make a positive change.

If hired as our next Staffing Manager, what can we expect from you in the first 90 days on the job?

"During my first 90 days, I would complete an audit to determine the potential gaps in the staffing process that may exist. I would also spend time getting to know my business partners and their hiring needs. During this process, I would seek information that would help paint the full-scale picture for me of your organization. Finally, I would look to begin to establish processes and best practices that ensure the staffing department maximizes its day to day productivity."

If your interviewer proposes a question like this during your time with them, they are ideally looking to hear that you would have a calculated plan of attack if you were hired as their next Staffing Manager. While the timeframe they may give vary from 30 days to six months and even to a year, it is wise to come to your interview prepared with a plan for how you will orientate quickly and hit the ground running if offered this position. This is your chance to ensure your interviewer that you are skilled enough for this position to know what to do in your first 90 days. As you answer, highlight the importance of building strong relationships, learning the business back to front, and stamping your place as their Staffing Manager in a positive way.

Talk about the last mistake you made on the job. What did you learn from ?

"The last mistake that I made was forgetting to send an offer letter to a candidate. It was when I had over 40 open positions that I was managing, and I didn't find out about this mistake until the hiring manager asked if I had received a response from the candidate. After checking back on my notes, I realized that I had forgotten to track that particular candidate properly. I admitted my fault right away to the hiring manager and contacted the candidate by phone within the next ten minutes. While the candidate let me know that they were considering an offer from another employer, they ended up accepting our offer in the end. I feel fortunate that this happened early in my career because I was able to learn the importance of being organized with all candidate activity firsthand."

Everyone makes mistakes during their career. Making the right mistake can show that you are willing to risk things to be better. By asking this question, your interviewer is looking to see if you can admit to making a mistake and that you have the mental fortitude to learn from your mistake moving forward. Before your interview, try to think of a recent mistake that shows your willingness to take a risk. Make sure that you can clearly paint the scene and clearly discuss what you learned from that situation that you can bring to this job as a Staffing Manager.

Why are you looking to leave your current employer?

"I have been with my current employer for five years. I love the culture, and I really enjoy my team. Unfortunately, I feel like I have to leave to promote to the next level of my career. My boss is the same age as I am, and I do not expect her to retire or leave anytime soon. Therefore, I am exploring new companies so I can have the opportunity to bring my skills and manage a strong recruitment and staffing team."

This is a standard question that is often asked of candidates for any position in any industry. By asking this, your interviewer will likely get great insight into your personal morals and character. The important thing to remember is to not talk down about your current job or employer, even if your lack of interest in your current job is the reason for looking elsewhere. Instead, focus your answer on your desire to grow and mature as the next Staffing Manager with this organization.

What is your greatest strength? How does it help you as a Staffing Manager?

"I feel my greatest strength is my ability to plan strategic staffing goals with my business partners. I can look at strategic plans and forecast our staffing needs for the next few years. From there, I can identify our gaps and put specific plans together to ensure we close all the employee gaps so that the organization can meet the strategic goals."

Throughout your time with them, your interviewer will be trying to find out what you have to offer the company as their next Staffing Manager. With an open-ended question like this where you are asked to point out your greatest strength, this is a good time to highlight a soft skill you possess that can help set you apart for this job. You can also highlight an interpersonal skill that would help you excel as the next Staffing Manager at this organization. However, when you answer this question, be sure to speak with confidence to point out how this strength would benefit you in the role!

As a Staffing Manager, what do you believe is your best asset that you could bring to our team?

"There are several reasons I feel I am the best candidate for this role. First, I exceed all the educational and experiential requirements for the position. Second, I have over ten years of experience recruiting individuals to your industry. Third, I stay current in my field by attending webinars and training. I am always looking for new ways to improve the recruitment metrics in the organization. I think I am best for this role because of my ongoing education in the field and my passion for getting the right people in the right seats at the right time!"

With this question, your interviewer is handing you the opportunity to give your sales pitch for yourself for this role with their organization. Before your interview, be sure to take the time to research all aspects of this position to highlight the one key asset you can bring to this team that sets you apart from your competition. By reading the job description in detail, you can highlight a key area of expertise that you have that benefits this organization.

Why are you the best Staffing Manager that we can hire at our organization?

"During my research of the company and my previous interviews, I discovered you are having a hard time filling your engineering roles. I am best suited for this position because I have extensive experience filling engineering roles and have done so by really leaving no stone unturned in a recruitment process. I've built relationships with program directors from the top engineering schools in the country and have worked with engineering staff on building their networks with a focus on recruitment. In addition, I feel I am best suited for this role because my personal values align with the values of this organization."

This is the typical 'tell me why you are the best candidate' question that can be faced in many interviews. To nail this question, you need to have done your homework on the organization to find out the key skills and abilities they are seeking out of their next Staffing Manager. If possible, try to identify a current recruiting gap that they may be facing and tell them how you will fix that gap. It doesn't hurt to think outside of the box in finding a unique quality that you can bring to this team that sets you apart from your competition for the job.

What has led you and motivated you up to this point in your career as a Staffing Manager?

"I like the feeling of finding the right person for the job at the right time and being able to put them in the right place in the organization. I know how critically important staffing is to operations, and I feel like I directly impact the company's success. I also like the feeling of offering a job to a job seeker that is excited to come on board. Finally, I enjoy mentoring new recruiters."

To get a sense that you are a motivated Staffing Manager they'd be bringing aboard their team, your Interviewer wants to know why you like your job and why your career path has led you up to this interview with their organization. If possible, try to relate your motivations in your career with some of the most common job requirements for this position. Then, tell the interviewer which of the top skills bring you the most enjoyment in your work. In the end, your interviewer will be most impressed if you speak with passion and knowledge.

As our next Staffing Manager, how would you keep organized and stay on track of all of your work so that it gets done on time?

"Time management is one of the most important aspects of recruitment. In my current role, we have several recruitments at one time, and all are high priority. I use a rubric with hiring managers to determine how essential recruitment is. We post and manage recruitments based on the rubric discussions we have with the manager. We create a recruitment contract at the beginning of the recruitment effort, and we outline all deliverable dates. I have my admin add these dates to my calendar so I can check with staff to ensure we have met all our deadlines."

As a Staffing Manager with this organization, you will be expected to handle a large workload of recruitment efforts and other staff issues. To get a sense of how you stay organized and on track when handling competing priorities, your interviewer will pose a question like this to you during your interview. No matter how you answer this question, be sure you make it clear that you can use many resources available to you to stay on top of deadlines. As you answer, be sure to talk about your ability to be fluent in reprioritizing your work at a moment's notice because this is so commonplace in the work of a Staffing Manager.

If hired as our next Staffing Manager, how comfortable are you in making quick decisions on the job? If possible, give me an example of a time you had to do just this.

"I feel confident in my ability to make decisions on my own in short order. However, I always prefer to use logical decision-making tools to ensure my decisions are the best possible solution for the business. If I do have to make a decision quickly, I determine what is urgent and important. Then I focus my decision on those two criteria. Last year, I supported the recruitment effort for five new salespeople to join our staff. Following the intake session, the hiring manager went on a sudden medical leave, and I still had some questions I wanted to have answered before posting the position on the sites and journals we had discussed. Knowing that times were tight for our entire sales management team, I went over my notes and dug up some sales figures on my own to use in our advertising to not delay any processes. When the hiring manager returned from his medical leave just four weeks later, he was pleased to find a stack of well-qualified candidates that I had prescreened."

As their next Staffing Manager, you will be relied upon to make quick and effective decisions to keep the hiring process moving quickly, and your interviewer wants to know you can make decisions when needed. They are also looking to determine if you have a standardized decision-making process to bring to their team. Assure them that you can make a decision and use logical decision-making tools to make quality decisions. To do this, talk about a time where you were relied upon to make a quick decision that ended with an excellent result.

What employee background screenings are you familiar with and what role did you play in coordinating them in previous roles?

"In my current role, I put new hires through a full background check through a third party vendor. They conduct a federal criminal background check, reference checks, and employment verifications for us. Upon an offer acceptance, I submit the new hire's information to the vendor to start the process. I also coordinate new hire drug screens with a local clinic for all new hires and receive the results once the hire reports and tests. If hired here, I understand that driving record checks will be a part of the process. Can you shed light on how that process will work for this role?"

As the next Staffing Manager at this organization, you will be responsible for ensuring that new employees go through all background screening processes required by the organization. Your interviewer is simply looking to hear what experience you have with different background screening processes in your prior work. Before your interview, you should try to research the types of background screening processes this organization uses. It is also important to be familiar with the wide variety of background screenings that employers utilize, like criminal history checks, employment/education verifications, drug screenings, credit checks, social media checks, and driving records. As you answer, talk about the roles that you've played in these processes in the past.

If hired as our next Staffing Manager, would you be comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people?

"Honestly, this was not something that I was comfortable with early in my career. But luckily, I've had many opportunities to speak to large groups during large new employee orientations, benefits training sessions, and presentations to our management team. Last year, I was asked to plan and present a recruitment processes training for over 40 managers. In being very detailed in my preparation and practicing my presentation with a team member ahead of time, the training went over very well with our managers. They followed up with very provocative questions that generated a lot of great discussions. If hired for this role, you can rest assured that I am very comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people."

At times in this role as a Staffing Manager, you will be required to talk to large groups of people, and your interviewer will be ideally looking to hear that they are comfortable and can thrive in these situations. To best answer this question, try to think of different times where you've had to present information or speak to a large group of people. If possible, paint a clear picture by describing the situation, discussing what you presented, describing who your audience was, and discussing the great results you achieved. Don't hesitate to talk about any tactics you use when talking in front of large groups.

What experience in leading staff training would you bring to our team as our next Staffing Manager?

"While I don't have direct experience in directly developing staff training, I have a lot of experience in coordinating and leading a variety of staff training and educational sessions. I am very comfortable training new staff in our department on a 1:1 basis in my current role. As well, I coordinate and handle yearly supervisor training. This past year, I coordinated and led quarterly staffing training for our supervisors, and these training sessions included interview techniques, unconscious bias training, and effective job description writing. If hired here, I am ready and willing to learn all aspects of the staff training duties I would be responsible for."

A critical role for a Staffing Manager at this organization is leading the way for internal and external staff training. In asking this question, your interviewer is looking to hear firsthand about any experience you have in providing and/or leading staff training. Before your interview, prepare yourself to talk in detail about any experiences you have in developing training curriculum, coordinating training, and leading training for employees. Your interviewer will be looking to hear of any well-rounded experience you have in this area because the staffing team at their organization is responsible for staff training needs. If you don't have direct experience in the training area, be sure to talk about any knowledge that you have and keep the door open for yourself to learn and train in this area in this role.

In our industry, having a solid candidate pipeline is important. How would you go about developing a great candidate pipeline as our next Staffing Manager?

"As I know is true in your industry, the last ten years have proven to be much more difficult to recruit individuals reactively, and hiring managers want candidates yesterday rather than six months down the road. In my current role, I attend many university recruiting events to begin talking to future candidates even years before they graduate. I've put together great materials for them on what a future career looks like with our organization. Following events like this, I add candidates to our CRM and stay in contact with them regularly. These efforts have helped us fill our last three engineering positions in just a few short weeks."

Today, Staffing Managers are tasked with being proactive in their recruitment efforts, and candidate pipelining for future recruitment efforts is vital in quickly hiring candidates for hard-to-fill positions. Ideally, your interviewer is looking to hear that you have some effective methods to build great candidate pipelines and that you can put these to work in your recruitment efforts with their organization. As you answer, be sure to talk about why pipelining is important and focus on networking, social media, and staff referral efforts you have used to build a presence for your future openings to attract candidates ahead of time.

Talk about a time you gave feedback to a hiring manager. Why was the feedback necessary and how did you approach the conversation with them?

"If hired for this role, I would look to become a close partner with all of the hiring managers that I would be working with and open lines of communication are important in that partnership. A couple of years ago, I worked closely with a new hiring manager who wasn't giving me clear feedback on candidates they were interviewing in person and wasn't completing interview evaluations. Knowing that this was an experienced manager, I had to approach our conversation armed with good information on why I needed interview evaluations to be filled out. We talked in his office, and I explained that the documentation of interviews was important on the Human Resources side of things for us to support any hiring decisions that are made. He thanked me for the conversation and admitted that it was certainly old school not taking notes during or after an interview. With a quick five-minute coaching on my expectations, he was fully compliant in all of his interviews moving forward."

As a Staffing Manager, you will be expected to provide constructive feedback to hiring managers. While this feedback can be provided on many different aspects of the recruitment and staffing process, some of the hiring managers that you will be working with can be stubborn and bullheaded in their ways. To demonstrate your ability to approach the hiring managers you will be working with in this role, think about a time when you noticed an improvement could be made with one of the managers you worked with and explain why the feedback you had was important to success. Then, walk through how you approached that conversation to ensure that your advice was taken in stride and implemented right away by the hiring manager.

If hired on our team as a Staffing Manager, how would you help impact the overall engagement of your team?

"As a supervisor in my current role, it was my job to evaluate the attendance and performance of my staff. I noticed that we had significantly more sick day call-ins on Mondays and Fridays. After reviewing this data, I also reviewed our work logs for Mondays and Fridays and found that we had fewer HR inquiries on these days. I decided to pilot an alternative work schedule and allow our employees to take Monday or Friday off and start a new 4/10 schedule. The employees were thrilled, and our unexcused absences decreased significantly."

To be a successful Staffing Manager at this organization, you will be expected to motivate your staff to perform at their best on a day-to-day basis. At some point during your interview, your interviewer will be looking to determine if you have experience in employee engagement. As you discuss ways to engage and motivate your staff, don't hesitate to share a specific example that impacted employee engagement. If you do not have a specific example, share your understanding of how to increase employee engagement to prove that you will successfully lead the entire staffing team at this organization.

What overall experience in managing a team of individuals would you bring to our organization as our next Staffing Manager?

"If fortunate enough to be your next Staffing Manager, this would be my first official role managing the work of other individuals. However, I was the senior recruiter with my last company, and I developed many valuable skills to succeed in this role. It was my job to train new recruiters and monitor their progress. I gave input on their performance reviews. In preparation for my first management role, I took two supervisor development courses where I learned how to conduct performance reviews, coach, and motivate my employees properly. I feel I am well prepared to hold my first official management role with your organization."

In the candidate review stage of this recruitment effort for a Staffing Manager, your interviewer may have a hard time telling if you have direct experience managing a team of direct reports. As you answer this question, be very honest with your prior experience. If you have management experience, feel free to share it with the interviewer and talk in detail about your duties surrounding teams of individuals. If you have never been a manager before, talk about how you have obtained the necessary skills to be an effective people manager in this role.

As our next Staffing Manager, talk about your candidate dispositioning philosophies and why they would be important in our industry?

"The candidate experience is significant. If a candidate has been interviewed in person and not offered the job, I will always recommend that the hiring manager calls them directly to talk to them further. I encourage leaders to give constructive feedback to candidates and keep candidates in their pipeline if they were great. I have also coached hiring managers on these conversations. For candidates that have not been interviewed in person, I send a templated email from the ATS that thanks them for applying and lets them know that we have filled the position. I also encourage them to keep applying. I send these emails promptly so that the candidate positively views my organization."

The candidate's experience is essential during any recruitment process, and this is especially true for candidates that aren't ultimately offered the job. You may end up with a great silver medalist candidate that would be next in line for a job upon another opening, and letting them down the right way would be essential for future success with them. Conversely, there will come a time in your career when you have a candidate who applies but isn't the right candidate for your organization, and a hard conversation needs to be had. No matter how you answer this question, make it clear to your interviewer that you take the proper dispositioning of candidates seriously in your work.

Do you see any difference between staffing and recruiting within an organization?

"Yes, there are many differences, but the two are interrelated as well. While most of my experience during my career has been on the recruitment side of healthcare and food services, I am ready to make the leap to full-fledged staffing. I have a strong interest in employee retention and currently sit on an organizational committee focused on staff retention. Over the last two years since our formation, we have developed new onboarding and training programs that are paying dividends in such a short amount of time. Your role as a Staffing Manager piqued my interest greatly because it so closely aligns with my personal career goals."

Looking to hire you as their next Staffing Manager, you may only be coming to this interview with recruitment experience. Your interviewer will be looking to hear that you understand the full scope of staffing versus the recruiting process and that you are ready to take on the full spectrum of staffing in this role. As you answer, point out some key things included in full-spectrum staffing and how this differs from recruiting staff. Some things to talk about would be the importance of focusing on retention and training throughout an employee's career once they are hired.

We expect our next Staffing Manager to have a strong focus on employee retention strategies. What do you feel are one or two of the best retention strategies to implement in our organization?

"I know that there are many factors that play into the long-term retention of employees. Things like staff recognition, sound recruiting, and employee wellness are all part of the bigger picture, and it sounds like your organization does put a strong focus on these things. Two areas that I believe can really help your organization's retention are continuous manager trainings and a focus on the professional development of your staff. The statistics show that a large percentage of employee turnover happens because employees don't like working for their boss. Today, the need for managers to act as coaches is more important than ever, and it is a huge shift in focus for many managers who have been in their roles for many years. I've participated in some great manager trainings that have helped shift this focus to a more diverse and mobile workforce. Professional development is so important in your industry, and staff that doesn't feel their organization puts enough focus into this leave for an organization that does. I'd love to help you develop great PD programs that are both effective and cost-efficient."

The cost of losing top talent at an organization is great, and Staffing Managers play a huge role in helping to develop and foster successful employee retention programs to ensure that staff stays in it for the long haul. If asked this question during your interview, there's a good chance that this organization has seen its fair share of staff turnover over the years and will be looking to you for fresh ideas on keeping their team intact. As you prepare for your interview, come ready to discuss some solid retention strategies and your ideas for implementing them in this role to really impress your interviewer. It will help immensely if you research the organization to help tie your strategies to their needs.

If hired as our next Staffing Manager, what do you think are the two or three keys roles you will play within the organization?

"I know that there are several key roles that I will be required to take on to run a successful staffing department here at your organization. First is the ability to train and lead a successful team of recruiters, and I know that my ability to lead others is second to none. Another key role I would play is revamping the onboarding procedure here. As you mentioned, high turnover has been an issue, and I'm a firm believer that a strong onboarding program plays a huge role in the longevity of a new staff member's employment. Last, I would see my role as the Staffing Manager as a liaison and bridge between upper management and successful new hires. I will continuously seek to strengthen relationships within the C-Suite all the way to the hiring managers I would be working with daily."

At points during your time with them, your interviewer will be looking to see that you've done your homework on this Staffing Manager position, and this question is an example of a time when they'll be trying to do just that. But keep in mind that they won't be looking for you to recite a couple of day-to-day tasks in your answer. Rather, they'll be expecting you to talk about some big-picture items that you will be able to tackle if you are hired for the position. If possible, try to research the organization and their industry to talk about a couple of key things that you will be able to do to make a difference for their organization.

What has been your best experience in recruitment and staffing during your career? How can that experience benefit you in our role as a Staffing Manager?

"I have several years of experience as a recruiter in two high demand industries: technology and manufacturing. During my time as a recruiter in my current position, I decreased the time-to-fill metrics by 25% over the course of two years using new and creative advertising and sourcing techniques. I have spent a lot of time building up my network, which allows me to advertise jobs to a larger audience. In this role, I have been promoted to lead recruiter over the past two years. In this role, I was able to train and oversee 4 new recruiters on my team, and they've hit the ground running with success."

Don't recite your resume when answering this question because your interviewer can certainly obtain that information by simply reading through it in just a couple of minutes. Make sure you take the time to talk in detail about what you feel is your best experience that is most relevant to this job as a Staffing manager with this organization. As you highlight your experiences in this role, make sure to focus on your accomplishments that may not be captured in your resume.

How do you stay current on changes in the staffing and HR field?

"There are several ways that I stay current in employment laws and continue to educate myself. First, I subscribe to SHRM, and I receive emails daily that update me with changes. I also talk with candidates to determine what kind of experiences they had with other companies. I also ask them where they applied and how they learn about jobs they want to apply to. In talking to candidates, I've found a few ways to improve my own processes and procedures. Finally, my staff and I attend continuing education courses at least every year. We try to split up the sessions we attend and then report back to the entire group."

Because laws and trends in the staffing industry are continuously changing, keeping yourself up to date in any way possible is vital to both the success of yourself and any organization that employs you. In asking this question, your interviewer wants to hear that you are proactive in staying ahead of the changing landscape in the staffing world. This can include employment law changes and new technologies and innovations in the field. Before your interview, think of ways that you actively participate in continuing education, the journals and publications that you subscribe to, and ways that you network with others in your field. Be able to highlight your desire to continue to learn and grow into the future as the next Staffing Manager with this organization.

What HR software have you worked with in the past?

"I have used several HRIS systems during my career, and I've always had an easy time learning and transitioning to new systems. The modern systems available today are so much more intuitive than systems were as little as 10 years ago. Most have the same underlying concepts, allowing staffing professionals like me to easily navigate different systems. I see that you use the Workday suite. I have not used it in the past, but I researched the system and found it very similar to PeopleSoft. I feel confident that it would take me very little time to become an expert using the WorkDay ATS. It only took me about one month to become proficient using the system my current employer has."

An experienced Staffing Manager and HR professional should have a good knowledge base and varying experience in different HRIS systems. As you answer this question, you should explain your experience with different HRIS systems and what role the systems played in your previous work. You should be familiar with the company's system, but you do not need to have specific experience using the system first-hand. If possible, stay focused on the work you have performed in applicant tracking systems and candidate relationship management tools in the past because these will be the most vital tools you will use as this organization's next Staffing Manager. No matter how you answer this question, make sure our interviewer walks away knowing that you have the right experiences working in HRIS systems to hit the ground running on theirs.

Staffing Manager Interview Questions

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1. Tell me about a time when you had to manage multiple staffing projects at once. How did you prioritize your time to ensure success with every project?
2. Tell me about a time when you implemented recruiting metrics into your work. What metrics did you use?
3. Tell me about a time when you built rapport quickly with someone under difficult conditions.
4. As our next Staffing Manager, what experience would you bring in handling employee discipline. What are key things involved in ensuring that employee discipline is fair and just?
5. Tell me about a time when you had to tell a hiring manager that they had a very difficult to fill role. How did you handle that situation?
6. How would you rate your written communication skills? Why are written skills important for a successful Staffing Manager?
7. What would you say you like least about being a Staffing Manager?
8. Why is attention to detail so important in the work of a Staffing Manager? How can you bring this skill to our team?
9. We have the full expectation that our next Staffing Manager will be a great communicator that is well respected. Do others respect you and listen to you?
10. If offered this role as our next Staffing Manager, do you have any salary expectations?
11. When do you give positive feedback to people? Tell me about the last time you did.
12. What was the most useful criticism you ever received during your career in recruitment and staffing?
13. If hired as our next Staffing Manager, what can we expect from you in the first 90 days on the job?
14. Talk about the last mistake you made on the job. What did you learn from ?
15. Why are you looking to leave your current employer?
16. What is your greatest strength? How does it help you as a Staffing Manager?
17. As a Staffing Manager, what do you believe is your best asset that you could bring to our team?
18. Why are you the best Staffing Manager that we can hire at our organization?
19. What has led you and motivated you up to this point in your career as a Staffing Manager?
20. As our next Staffing Manager, how would you keep organized and stay on track of all of your work so that it gets done on time?
21. If hired as our next Staffing Manager, how comfortable are you in making quick decisions on the job? If possible, give me an example of a time you had to do just this.
22. What employee background screenings are you familiar with and what role did you play in coordinating them in previous roles?
23. If hired as our next Staffing Manager, would you be comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people?
24. What experience in leading staff training would you bring to our team as our next Staffing Manager?
25. In our industry, having a solid candidate pipeline is important. How would you go about developing a great candidate pipeline as our next Staffing Manager?
26. Talk about a time you gave feedback to a hiring manager. Why was the feedback necessary and how did you approach the conversation with them?
27. If hired on our team as a Staffing Manager, how would you help impact the overall engagement of your team?
28. What overall experience in managing a team of individuals would you bring to our organization as our next Staffing Manager?
29. As our next Staffing Manager, talk about your candidate dispositioning philosophies and why they would be important in our industry?
30. Do you see any difference between staffing and recruiting within an organization?
31. We expect our next Staffing Manager to have a strong focus on employee retention strategies. What do you feel are one or two of the best retention strategies to implement in our organization?
32. If hired as our next Staffing Manager, what do you think are the two or three keys roles you will play within the organization?
33. What has been your best experience in recruitment and staffing during your career? How can that experience benefit you in our role as a Staffing Manager?
34. How do you stay current on changes in the staffing and HR field?
35. What HR software have you worked with in the past?

Staffing Manager Interview Questions

1. Tell me about a time when you had to manage multiple staffing projects at once. How did you prioritize your time to ensure success with every project?

2. Tell me about a time when you implemented recruiting metrics into your work. What metrics did you use?

3. Tell me about a time when you built rapport quickly with someone under difficult conditions.

4. As our next Staffing Manager, what experience would you bring in handling employee discipline. What are key things involved in ensuring that employee discipline is fair and just?

5. Tell me about a time when you had to tell a hiring manager that they had a very difficult to fill role. How did you handle that situation?

6. How would you rate your written communication skills? Why are written skills important for a successful Staffing Manager?

7. What would you say you like least about being a Staffing Manager?

8. Why is attention to detail so important in the work of a Staffing Manager? How can you bring this skill to our team?

9. We have the full expectation that our next Staffing Manager will be a great communicator that is well respected. Do others respect you and listen to you?

10. If offered this role as our next Staffing Manager, do you have any salary expectations?

11. When do you give positive feedback to people? Tell me about the last time you did.

12. What was the most useful criticism you ever received during your career in recruitment and staffing?

13. If hired as our next Staffing Manager, what can we expect from you in the first 90 days on the job?

14. Talk about the last mistake you made on the job. What did you learn from ?

15. Why are you looking to leave your current employer?

16. What is your greatest strength? How does it help you as a Staffing Manager?

17. As a Staffing Manager, what do you believe is your best asset that you could bring to our team?

18. Why are you the best Staffing Manager that we can hire at our organization?

19. What has led you and motivated you up to this point in your career as a Staffing Manager?

20. As our next Staffing Manager, how would you keep organized and stay on track of all of your work so that it gets done on time?

21. If hired as our next Staffing Manager, how comfortable are you in making quick decisions on the job? If possible, give me an example of a time you had to do just this.

22. What employee background screenings are you familiar with and what role did you play in coordinating them in previous roles?

23. If hired as our next Staffing Manager, would you be comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people?

24. What experience in leading staff training would you bring to our team as our next Staffing Manager?

25. In our industry, having a solid candidate pipeline is important. How would you go about developing a great candidate pipeline as our next Staffing Manager?

26. Talk about a time you gave feedback to a hiring manager. Why was the feedback necessary and how did you approach the conversation with them?

27. If hired on our team as a Staffing Manager, how would you help impact the overall engagement of your team?

28. What overall experience in managing a team of individuals would you bring to our organization as our next Staffing Manager?

29. As our next Staffing Manager, talk about your candidate dispositioning philosophies and why they would be important in our industry?

30. Do you see any difference between staffing and recruiting within an organization?

31. We expect our next Staffing Manager to have a strong focus on employee retention strategies. What do you feel are one or two of the best retention strategies to implement in our organization?

32. If hired as our next Staffing Manager, what do you think are the two or three keys roles you will play within the organization?

33. What has been your best experience in recruitment and staffing during your career? How can that experience benefit you in our role as a Staffing Manager?

34. How do you stay current on changes in the staffing and HR field?

35. What HR software have you worked with in the past?