Articles From the Team

Why does my recruiter ask questions about other interviews?

At BCL Legal, I spend my day trying to find lawyers their dream job. This involves asking all types of questions along the way; some more comfortably answered than others.

There’s one in particular: “Where else are you interviewing?” 

I’ve even had a couple of instances where a candidate refuses to answer this question, or at the very least felt is unhappy to do so.

There seems to be a common misconception on why a recruitment consultant asks for this information. To that end, I thought it was worth running through a few reasons ‘why’ we ask…

We want to understand your job search

Without all of the correct information at hand, we can’t provide you with the best possible service. We might have your dream role on our books, but we just don’t know it yet, so as an undesired outcome, it could pass you by…

We can use the information to influence our clients

If you have other interviews, we can use this to influence, making existing processes competitive. Who doesn’t want a few firms fighting over them?

On numerous occasions, I’ve encountered partners tipping over to see a candidate they were initially on the fence about; all because they were told of interviews elsewhere. Sharing this information is a good thing!

We can help you manage the process

In an ideal world, all your first and second stage interviews and subsequent offers would take place simultaneously so you can easily decide on everything!

If we don’t know about interviews, we can’t aim to line everything up for you. Once we get to offer stage, if we know about all your options, then we can help you manage them.

As you can see, none of the above is associated with us trying to hijack your offer or get the information to ensure we can sabotage your position with that particular firm. Please bear this in mind the next time your recruitment consultant asks you this very important question.