Harvard Brown Interview Tips And Advice

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Interview Tips & Advice




Introduction

Our aim is to help you develop and maintain a competitive advantage when interviewing and this sales training manual is designed to be used in conjunction with the advice and guidance provided by your Consultant at Harvard Brown.

We work in partnership with a diverse range of carefully selected clients, from boutique executive search firms to multinational and often multi award-winning recruitment companies.

We only work with companies that offer the most competitive commission structures and incentives, allowing you to earn what you deserve as a result of the results you deliver. Our clients also offer positive and supportive working environments and are organically businesses that provide the standard of training required to allow you to reach your full potential and advance your career as quickly as your abilities allow.

Our clients have a track record of training and developing graduates who joined them with no prior experience into some of the UK’s top performing recruiters. Some even have success stories of graduates who have become Directors inside three years of joining. Many of our clients have won awards such as “Sunday Times Fast Track 100, “Hot 100 Recruiter List (Sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland),” “Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to Work For” amongst others. With opportunities of this nature on offer, you can appreciate our clients are very selective as to who they decide to hire and ultimately invest their time, money and effort in developing.

Any suggestions on how to improve this manual are always welcome and can be emailed to

[email protected]. I hope you find it useful when preparing for interviews and look

forward to hearing about your success.

Kind Regards,

Will Duffield

Managing Director

Harvard Brown Ltd

mailto:[email protected]




Motivation

“He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche.

In terms of securing a role in the recruitment industry, what is your why?

Give some thought to the following questions…

What does success mean to you?

Why is it important for you to achieve your version of success?

How will you know when you are successful?

How would not achieving your goals impact your life?

If you have an appreciation for what it will mean to you if you do not achieve your goals, you are

more likely to have the required resolve and determination to ensure success, not merely have an

interest in success.

Goal Setting

What do you want to achieve?

“What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve.” Clement Stone

If you have not done so already, it is well worthwhile taking the time to write down the goals you

have in your professional and personal life. It might appear like a laborious process to actually do

this although that’s often why so many people do not achieve what they want to in life; they do not

take the time to think about what it is they actually want. If you do not know what you want

specifically, how do you know what action is best to take at this point in your life and the career path

you should follow?

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it.” Henry

Ford

Claiming that you simply want to be wealthy is a good start but this is not specific enough. Wealth is

a relative word and could mean something completely different from one person to the next. Some

people for example view a person’s wealth as a combination of their success in personal

relationships, their contribution to society in addition to financial status. For others, wealth is purely

financial. All you should be concerned with here in this example is what wealth means to you.

Think Big!

No prizes for modest goals here folks. What do you think is going to motivate you more, having

enough money to pay your bills and “get by” or enough to achieve financial independence for




yourself and family? What kind of goal is really going to help you grind out those tough sales calls

and keep you committed to succeed?

Once you have established what you want, you need to take this a step further and start placing

some time frames on when you expect to achieve these goals. People can be hesitant to put time

frames against their goals usually because by doing so they are making a commitment to having to

achieve something and it is no longer just a wish or passing interest. It becomes a necessity and that

generates a fear of failure in the minds of many people if they do not succeed. Use this fear to drive

you forward to accomplishing your goals. Failure can often be what stands in the way of someone

achieving their goals. If at any time you feel the fear of failure that’s often a good thing as you are

probably pushing yourself close to or beyond your current capabilities. That’s the best way you can

really develop as an individual.

“Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill.

To help with goal setting, consider the following questions.

How much do you expect to earn in the first year?

When will you get your first promotion?

What position of seniority will you be in by your third year? How about your fifth?

What kind of house will you have in five years time?

What car will you be driving?

What skills, qualities and personality traits will I need in order to ensure I achieve these goals?

Language and Thought

Pay close attention to the language you use and how this might impact on your thought process. For

example, what does it tell you about a person’s level of determination and ambition when they say

“It would be nice to earn 100K one day” relative to “I will be earning at least 100K inside three

years.”

Try to avoid “if,” “potentially,” “might,” “hopefully” or “maybe” when talking about your motivations

to be successful. It can say a lot about your level of determination and your own confidence towards

achieving your goals.




Modeling

It is no surprise that the majority of very successful entrepreneurs did not do everything or know

how to do everything themselves. Rather, they learned from others who knew more than they did.

Ask yourself who do you know that has achieved something similar to what you want to achieve and

how can you learn from them? Who is the most successful person I know? Could I ask them to be my

mentor? When asking someone to be your mentor, always offer some way of helping them in

return.

Identifying Potential Setbacks

Just as you would when writing a business plan, identify potential setbacks that could prevent you

from accomplishing your goals. What will you do to avoid them? There is no need to dwell on them

but having an awareness of potential setbacks can be good to remind you to have the flexibility to

adapt your approach when required to ensure continued success.

“There is nothing that is a more certain sign of insanity than to do the same thing over and over and

expect the results to be different.” Albert Einstein.

Interview Tips and Advice

Having given thought towards what success means to you, what your goals are and why you are determined to be successful, you are in a prime position to excel during the interview process.

Research the Company

In addition to helping to maximize your chance of success during interview, ensuring that you have researched the company also helps you to fully appreciate the nature of the opportunity on offer and should have you inspired before you arrive. All of our clients want candidates to be able to express an interest in their company and demonstrate why they would want to work there. To help with preparation, ensure you have a thorough understanding of the history of the company, the person/s you are meeting and any details on the role/s you are being considered for. Having an appreciation of the competencies they look for in the people they hire is a good idea too. If you are prepared to research what is happening in the world that may impact their business that could be an excellent way of showing commercial awareness. It is also worthwhile taking the time to look at the main competitors to you prospective employer and research the vacancies they are currently advertising for. What unique selling points does the prospective employer have relative to their competitors? During the interview, companies will expect you to be interviewing elsewhere so you do not need to be insincere and claim they are the only company you ever want to work for but you need to show you are able to recognise the nature of the opportunity for what it is.




Presentation Our clients are incredibly well respected and successful recruitment companies, who understand the importance of professionalism and credibility within their industry. They expect the same qualities in the people they hire, so taking the time to ensure you are dressed appropriately in corporate attire is essential.

Non Verbal Communication With first impressions being everlasting, it is important to get the initial greeting right. A firm handshake indicates you are full of energy and keen to make a positive impression. Be sure to maintain good eye contact and avoid slouching during interview. Leaning forward indicates you are engaged in the conversation and shows your interest.

Questions You Might be asked

Why Recruitment?

This is one of the biggest and most important questions to get right and as you have taken the time to establish your goals and motivation, you will be a stage ahead of many candidates. Recruitment is essentially a business to business sales role, so during interview it’s important to demonstrate the desire to earn commission within a sales environment. This is what recruitment can offer above and beyond many graduate jobs and the interviewer will want to see you have looked into this. Too many people shy away from saying money is important but it is vital in a heavily commission based sales role to have this drive. To strengthen your conviction when you talk about drive for money, talk about what you need it for; ie big house, (where?) nice car (what car?) and in what time frame (50k 1st year? 100K year 3?) why not?! If it’s been done before it can be done. This will increase your focus and the likelihood of you achieving what you want too. In addition to the financial incentives, recruitment can offer rapid career progression to a position of leadership as soon as your abilities allow and this is all based on results as opposed to seniority. Therefore having the desire to take charge or your earning potential and career success is very welcomed in recruitment. An employer will be more willing to invest the time, money and effort in developing a graduate if they are ambitious and sufficiently motivated to realise a high level of career success and earning potential.

Why Will You Be Successful In Recruitment?

By asking this question, an interviewer is searching for tangible evidence as to how you are able to match up to the required competencies that make a successful Recruitment Consultant.

Here are some of the most important competencies you need to evidence during interview. Give some thought as to what examples you can use from your professional and personal life to support your suitability.




Competitiveness Resilient Proactive Money Motivated Positivity Self Awareness Excellent Communication Skills Persuasive Lateral Thinking Engaging/Likeable Personality Tenacity Sell Yourself

When discussing examples to support your suitability for the role, be sure to sell yourself with energy, clarity and conviction. Keep your answers direct and concise yet with enough depth to ensure they are interesting and to show you understand the relevance of the examples you give. Extracurricular/sporting examples can be good for showing competitive spirit and resilience. Working two or more jobs, long hours and/or chasing high paid jobs are all good for demonstrating money motivation. Situations where you have had to negotiate or debate can show where you have been persuasive. For example, a candidate who evidences the fact she played for the 1st team in hockey at university could be viewed as a good example of being competitive. To take this a step further, what if the candidate was hopeless at hockey when they first started playing and practiced continuously until they made the first team? What if they suffered a debilitating injury which was a massive obstacle to their success? What if someone told them they lacked the ability and would never make the team and they disagreed and succeeded anyway? An achievement in itself is one thing but how you sell that achievement and your perception of what it means is the most important consideration here.

Whilst it's essential to be engaging throughout the meeting, make sure you also demonstrate the tenacity and killer instinct needed to overcome any potential setbacks in order to be successful. Some people may be perceived as a bit too nice and often fail to show the tenacity required. You need to demonstrate that you will not be easily offended by any rejection that a client or candidate may give you. Sell yourself at every opportunity and reinforce your desire to be a success. Remember, our clients will be more than happy to give you the training and guidance needed to succeed in this industry providing you show them you are committed to ensuring success, ready to put in the required effort and are not intimidated by any potential rejection that you encounter. Essentially, your “why” is big enough to cope with the “how.”

Some of the other questions you could be asked at interview are listed below. Take the time to consider what answers you will give and discuss them with your Consultant.




More Interview Questions What is your biggest achievement and what does it say about you? Biggest Failure? Weakness? Tell me something about yourself you would not want to say at an interview? How do your closest friends describe you? What would you do if recruitment did not exist? If you could do any job in the world what would it be? What are you passionate about? What makes you angry? If you had two job offers, one for a role in recruitment for 80K a year and the other to kick a box around a room for 100K a year, which would you choose and why?

What Do You Understand the Role to Involve? The interviewer is not expecting you to be an expert here although would like you to have an appreciation of some of the activities you will be doing on a daily basis, the demanding nature of the job itself and the challenges involved. Show you have an appreciation for the specific day to day role you are interviewing for and how that might differ from some of the other opportunities you are exploring. In the recruitment guide, we have included more information on some of the different types of recruitment which should help with this.

Questions

Your questions should be specific and deliberately interactive. You should use your questions to provoke the interviewer to give detailed explanations as opposed to resulting in either yes or no answers. A good sales person is able to engage a potential buyer through asking open questions so you will want to show you understand this through the way you ask questions. Questions must also be ambitious in order to make it clear you have the necessary ambition required to excel. Avoid asking about the “average” earning potential or “average” rate of progression. Who wants to be average?

Sample Interview Questions to Ask an Interviewer

What is the commission structure? What is the biggest paycheque someone has earned in a month working here? What is the record annual earnings in the first year for someone who joined the company with no prior recruitment experience? What is the quickest promotion to a Team Leader role? Why was that person so successful?




What did they do differently? What are the plans for expansion across the business? What's the biggest mistake people typically make when starting out in recruitment? How is the training structured? Who will be responsible for my training? What expectations do you have of me in my first 6 months? 12 months? How do you decide what team a candidate is best suited to in the business? Which of your competitors do you most admire? Why?

Additionally, your questions will be tailored to respond to the answers an interviewer gives you and by you asking further questions demonstrates your ability to engage and not rely solely on your prepared questions (as good as they can be).

The Close

Be sure to “close” the meeting when appropriate to obtain clarity as to what the next steps of the interview process will be. Reminding the interviewer that you have been impressed by what you have heard and that you would like to progress to the next stage is highly recommended. This invites them to decide whether or not you are a suitable candidate and if they have any concerns now is the time for you to address them. A salesperson does not want to leave a potential sale until they have explored all ways of closing a sale or at least advancing the sale to the next stage. Never Give Up! Let’s imagine that the interviewer has concerns and they are not 100% certain you are a suitable candidate. Perhaps they voice a concern directly to you, for example, “I think you need to get some more sales experience and I would be happy to consider you again in 6 months time.” They may have said this because they are genuinely concerned about your suitability or may just be saying it to test you and see how you react. In either case, if you agree with them it’s the end of the interview. A good salesperson needs to overcome objections and work to alleviate concerns in order to close a deal or at least advance a sale. This is what you need to do in this situation, for example “I fully appreciate that hiring someone at my level with no prior experience is a potential risk in terms of the time and effort you will need to devote to my training and I accept I have no track record in sales. I do however have a track record of success throughout my life as discussed through sport and extracurricular activities and I’m looking for an opportunity to prove myself in this environment. I am absolutely determined to be a success in this industry and would be grateful for the opportunity to show this during the work sample. How do you feel about giving me this opportunity?” It’s much harder for the interviewer to say no at this stage and you show you have the required tenacity to succeed. What have you got to lose? Realistically, the worse that can happen is the interviewer still says no, which for the right candidate will only strengthen their resolve to get it right next time.




Phone Interview Although the fundamentals of what you need to do are similar in both a telephone interview and a face to face, there are some important things to consider that are unique to a telephone interview. As you do not have the ability to use body language and facial expressions over the phone it is even more important to express yourself and engage the interviewer with a confident, energetic, passionate and positive manner. Some candidates find it useful to stand up during a telephone interview, as it is often easier to project your voice and show your enthusiasm. In a face to face interview it can be easier to “read” the interviewer and pick up on their body language to detect when you have said too much or conversely when you need to elaborate. Over the phone you obviously cannot see the interviewer so it is essential to pay attention to how specific and relevant your answers are, keeping them concise and engaging whilst working to maintain the attention of the interviewer throughout. A telephone interview can often give candidates a great understanding of the challenges you are typically presented with in a telephone based sales role and how vital it is to be an engaging, energetic and purposeful communicator.

Sales Roleplay Exercise

At some stage during the interview process with many of our clients, you may be asked to perform a

sales roleplay exercise. The details of which may vary depending upon the company as you may be

expected to sell either a product or a candidate in a hypothetical scenario.

Regardless of what you are expected to sell, the principles remain the same. The example below

details the process of arranging a candidate to interview with a client.

1. Firstly, put the client at ease. Introduce yourself in a confident and engaging manner and establish

whether it is a good time to talk. Be friendly and enthusiastic, making an effort to build rapport and

show a sincere interest.

2. Ask as many questions you can in order to establish exactly what your client is looking for in a

suitable candidate. You could ask questions such as,

“What type of experience would the ideal candidate have?”

“What personality traits would they possess?”

“Could you tell me more about a candidate you've hired in the past who has been very successful

in your company?

What makes them so successful?”

“Is there anything else that is important to you in a candidate?”

3. Feed back to the client the specification they have told you they want and listen to their response.

Eg “You have told me you're looking for a candidate with "x" experience, "x" personality etc. I have

a candidate who meets with this criteria.”




4. Close them down if they have no concerns. The candidate is available on Tuesday at 10.00am or

2.00pm, would you like to meet him? This is far better than saying “have a look at the CV and let me

know if you are interested.” The latter lacks urgency and gives the client an easy way out if they are

unsure on the suitability of the candidate. You could also talk about other successful interviews the

candidate has had with competitors in order to create more urgency and further outline their

suitability.

5. If the client seems reluctant, ask them what reservations they have about the prospect of

interviewing the candidate. “What concerns do you have at this stage?”

6. Address any reservation/s. "I appreciate the candidate does not have the amount of experience

you would typically expect. However, relative to other candidates in the marketplace, I feel they

have the personality traits you have outlined which are required to excel in the role." If successful,

this will allow for you to get the commitment from the client to interview the candidate and proceed

to close them for a time to interview.

7. If at this stage the client is still not committing to an interview, keep addressing their concerns and

offering solutions. Do not give up at the first rejection. If you identify that despite your efforts the

client is not going to commit, what is the next best outcome? Usually, this is finding a way to

advance the sale in some way. For example, perhaps the client might have an interest but is not

ready to commit as they are going to interview other candidates before deciding to interview yours.

Despite your attempts to address concerns they remain adamant this is what they want to do. The

next step is to look at how you can obtain commitment from them to speak to you again. Could you

call them tomorrow, next week or next month for an update and revisit the prospect of securing a

sale? How can you convince them this is worthwhile?

8. Remember that in the face of complete rejection and apparent failure you are still going to be

positive, energetic and determined to close a sale in the future. Having the resilience to overcome

setbacks and the willingness to attempt another sale demonstrates that you are well on your way to

ensuring success. This is all a learning process after all so you must show your self-awareness and

ability to improve and react appropriately to constructive feedback. The interviewer will not be

expecting a flawless sales technique at this early stage, just a candidate with the desire and patience

to learn how to become an expert.

Work Sample

A work sample is an opportunity for you to showcase your skills and suitability for the role and prove

your worth to your prospective employer. Candidates also find that it is a great way to find out

whether they are really suited to the company in question through experiencing what it is actually

like to work there. Work sample tasks are usually about an hour long although can be longer. There




are two main specific tasks you will be asked to perform at a work sample. You will do both or either

depending on the company.

Task 1

New Business Generation

Following a brief explanation from your trainer/mentor at the company, you will be instructed to

proactively canvass for new business from prospective clients, ascertain their hiring needs and “win”

new business (generate vacancies). It is unusual for anyone to actually obtain a vacancy or bring on a

new client as you typically only have an hour to do so and of course you are very new to the role. On

this basis it’s likely that the best result you can hope for is to show your willingness to keep making

the calls despite setbacks, build rapport with prospective clients and demonstrate your enthusiasm

and potential to be successful in the role. If you are given any feedback on what to do to improve,

make sure you listen! It’s not uncommon to forget to really listen when focusing intensely on a work

sample task.

Remember to make your introduction to each call clear, concise and engaging and remain positive

throughout the call regardless of the reaction you get.

I have included some questions below that you may want to use as a guide for this exercise although

keep in mind the specific questions are likely to vary from one company to another or from one role

to another. If you are unclear, remember to ask before you start the exercise.

Sample Questions

“Are you hiring Contractors at the moment?”

“What’s your interview process?”

“Any particular skills you look for?”

“Who are your current suppliers?”

“Is there any way the service could be improved?”

“When are you looking to hire again?”

If appropriate at the time “are you happy to use me when you are looking to hire?”

“Who else in the business is responsible for hiring contractors?”

“Can I speak with them?”




Always obtain commitment to speak again. “Can I call you next week/month/quarter for an

update?”

Task 2 Candidate/Lead Generation

This task involves calling candidates from a database or from recently received CV’s and gathering

relevant information from them. You will be looking at assessing whether the candidate would be

suitable for a position your team is recruiting for in addition to generating any potential leads from

them that can have other uses, often for example to help with business development.

We have included some questions below to help with this.

"Are you currently working?"

"When does your contract finish?"

"Could you tell me more about what you are looking for in your next role?"

If currently interviewing - "Who are you due to interview with?"

"How was the interview with X company?"

“What do you think of the company?”

"Did you meet Robert?"

"What role will you have there if successful?"

"Who else have you applied to?"

If they have secured a role, "When do you start?"

"Do you know anyone else who is looking for work that we might be able to help?"

"What's their name/number?"

Obtain commitment to speak again.




Presentations

A well thought out and carefully considered presentation is a great way to demonstrate your interest

in working for your prospective employer and to illustrate the ways in which you can add value to

the company.

The presentation should be in a powerpoint format (unless instructed otherwise) and should be

professional with a clear layout. Keep each statement concise and meaningful. A presentation will

typically last from 5-10 minutes long and will be followed shortly afterwards with questions and

answers. It’s well worthwhile to practice your presentation and time it to ensure you are keeping

within the required time frame.

Remember to deliver your presentation with enthusiasm and conviction, be engaging throughout

and avoid being over reliant on reading from your notes.

Usually, a candidate will be presenting to three or more people so it’s essential to address everyone

in the room, avoiding focusing on just one person.

Although the specific questions on a presentation will vary from one company to another, some of

the questions you can typically expect are listed below.

Sample Presentation Questions

What do you understand the role of a recruitment consultant to involve?

Why will you be successful in the role?

What do you expect to achieve in your first six months in recruitment?

What do you expect to achieve in the next five years?

Why do you want to work for us?

It’s essential at the presentation stage that you have an appreciation for what makes the company in

question an attractive proposition to you personally. In order to show you understand what makes

them a good choice for you, it’s important to have an awareness of their main competitors and what

makes the prospective employer stand out? If you take the time to do this, the company will be far

more reassured that you are committing to a long term career and that you can recognize the nature

of the opportunity on offer.

Remember that you are very likely to be assessed not just on the presentation itself but how you

respond to the questions afterwards. To prepare for this, take some time to analyze your

presentation like a business plan, looking for things that someone might be inclined to question or

criticize. What is right or wrong is often just a matter of perception so even with an excellent

presentation there is usually some questions that will follow. When responding to questions or




objections, remember to handle them in the same way as you would when a potential buyer has

concerns. You need to be clear and decisive about the point you are trying to make whilst showing

the required sensitivity to avoid being confrontational. By doing this you will demonstrate your

ability to be managed and respond well to any advice given when you join the company.

Note:

Many of our candidates benefit from using this manual as a reference to reread prior to any interviews they

may have in the recruitment industry. If you would like any more information do not hesitate to get in touch

your Consultant. Any suggestions on how to improve this manual are always welcome and can be emailed to

[email protected]. I hope you find it useful when preparing for interviews and look forward to

hearing about your success.

Kind Regards,

Will Duffield

Managing Director

Harvard Brown Ltd

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Harvard Brown Interview Tips And Advice