Articles From the Team

Interview Preparation: Why you should listen to your recruitment consultant

Lets be honest, one thing is for certain a lot of candidates do not listen to their recruitment agent when the agent tries to give advice in relation to interview preparation.

In one sense I don’t blame candidates for this because unfortunately there are too many recruitment consultants out there that don’t understand what their client is looking for and so any interview preparation they might give will be ineffectual and not worth listening to.  This isn’t always the recruiters fault.  Gaining access to line managers to get the information required can sometimes be quite hard for a variety of reasons.  So if the preparation only consists of the agent confirming the date, time, interviewer, some cheesy lines about “adding value” and the company’s web site then as a candidate you’re in trouble!

A candidate’s interview preparation is the key to a successful interview.  You can never guarantee an offer of employment, but if you are well prepared, know the format of the interview and understand what the employer is looking for you are certainly a step closer to securing an offer.  I am pleased to say that consultants at BCL Legal have managed to gain the information required to prepare each of their candidates adequately for any interviews arranged.  The recruitment consultants ability to gain this information is by no means easy, it requires a high degree of tenacity, the ability to ask the right questions of the recruiting manager, distil all that information and convert it into a meaningful format that is easy to understand and can be communicated to the candidate with relative ease.

But can the recruitment consultant tell when their candidate is listening and understands what they are saying?  There are lots reasons why candidates don’t listen to recruitment agents.  Having been in the industry for 13 years I know that a lot of recruiters talk too fast, use cheesy catch phrases and talk over people.  The recruitment consultant’s ability to recognise whether or not the candidate is listening and more importantly understands what they are saying is critical.  If you are a candidate using BCL Legal, don’t underestimate the importance of what we are saying because a high proportion of the time your consultant has spoken to the recruiting manager and knows what they do and don’t want.

A good recruitment consultant holds the key to you securing the offer you want whether that be for the promotion you need, the pay increase you desire or the location you want to move to.  A good recruitment consultant will know the personality of the interviewer, the format of the meeting, what questions to expect and why they are asking them.  A good recruitment can coach you through the whole process and make the experience a lot less stressful and allow you the candidate to perform to the best of your ability.  I can’t guarantee there won’t be any David Brent style phrases from consultants at BCL Legal but I can guarantee that our consultants know how to prepare you for an interview so please listen!