Three questions behind all the others
Whether it’s a first screening call with an in-house recruiter or a final interview with a director, recruiters are trying to answer the same three questions: can this candidate do the job? Do they really want it? Will they fit in with the team? Even the most innocuous questions serve one of these three checks.
Research in occupational psychology backs this up: structured interviews, which assess skills, motivation and soft skills on the basis of specific facts, predict job performance far better than an overall impression. That’s why experienced recruiters score criteria, not gut feelings.
Motivation: why this role, and why us?
A candidate who would be motivated by any job is motivated by none. The recruiter expects specific reasons: an aspect of the work that appeals to you, a project or recent news at the company, a fit with your background. “Your company is a market leader” says nothing about you.
Mention a specific fact about the company (product, project, value, recent news) and link it to your background.
Explain what this role brings to your career plans, and what you bring to it.
Don’t lead with purely material motivations (salary, location).
Role fit and evidence: can they do the job?
The recruiter is constantly comparing what you say with the responsibilities in the job posting. Having the skills isn’t enough: you have to make the link explicit. And every skill you claim must be backed up by a real example.
A convincing example sets out the situation, what you personally did and the result you achieved, ideally with figures: that’s the logic of the STAR method. Without an example, a quality is just a claim; with one, it becomes evidence.
Reread the job posting and list the four or five key skills it asks for.
Pair each one with a specific experience and a measurable result.
Say “I” when you were the one who acted: the recruiter is assessing your contribution, not the team’s.
Soft skills: will they fit in?
Soft skills often carry as much weight as technical skills, especially for entry-level roles. The recruiter pays attention to how you talk about your colleagues, your managers and your former employers, to your ability to own your mistakes and to the way you work with others.
The warning signs are almost always the same: criticising a former employer, blaming others, being unable to name a single area to work on or coming across as inflexible.
Composure and communication: how you say it matters as much as what you say
Tough questions (a weakness, a failure, a gap in your CV, your salary expectations) aren’t there to trip you up, but to see how you react when the conversation gets harder. An honest, short answer focused on what you learned beats a rehearsed “fake weakness” every time.
Finally, the recruiter judges how well you get your message across: answers that genuinely address the question, structured and one to two minutes long, and a few relevant questions to ask at the end of the interview. Speaking too fast, long silences or filler words in every sentence can muddy even an excellent message.
How to practise on these six criteria
These criteria can be worked on, but rarely alone in front of a mirror: you need to hear yourself answer, be challenged with follow-up questions and get honest feedback. Prepare your examples, then rehearse out loud, in interview conditions.
