Hiring guide
How to Hire a Recruiter
How to find a recruiter: in-house vs agency, where to source, the skills to test, an intake and sourcing work sample, red flags and onboarding.
The short answer
Hiring a Recruiter comes down to verifying hiring manager intake: turning a vague need into a clear profile and scorecard, sourcing across linkedin, job boards, referrals and communities and writing job adverts that are accurate and inclusive before you commit interview time. The process below runs 5 stages, screens on evidence rather than résumé claims, and scores every candidate against the same criteria.
- Watch for: Measures success only by CVs sent or calls made, with no view on whether hires stayed
- Watch for: Cannot explain how they would push back on a hiring manager's unrealistic brief
- Score on: Quality of questions and outcome in the intake role-play
- Score on: Clarity, accuracy and inclusiveness of the rewritten advert
Paste your Recruiter job description; Cohesyve finds, contacts and tests candidates on the real work and ranks them. Ten candidates free, no card.
Applying for a role like this? Practise the assessment free →Knowing how to find a recruiter starts with deciding whether you need someone in-house, an agency or a contract recruiter for a hiring push. All three source candidates, screen them and move them through to offer, but an in-house recruiter also learns your teams, protects your employer brand and builds a process you keep. This guide covers where to look, the skills that separate good recruiters, a practical work sample, red flags and onboarding.
Why this role matters
Recruiters decide who your hiring managers ever get to meet. A good one writes accurate job adverts, reaches the right people, screens with structure, keeps candidates informed and pushes back when a brief or offer is unrealistic. A weak one sends volume instead of fit, loses strong candidates through slow communication and leaves no data on what is working.
Where to find candidates
- In-house recruiters and agency consultants on LinkedIn, filtered by the functions and levels you hire
- Holders of LinkedIn Certified Professional (Recruiter) or the NAPS Certified Personnel Consultant (CPC) credential
- Recruiting communities such as Recruiting Brainfood and SourceCon, and SHRM or CIPD networks
- REC and APSCo member agencies in the UK, and American Staffing Association members in the US, if you are choosing an agency
- Recruitment coordinators and sourcers ready to step up to a full-cycle role
- Referrals from hiring managers and candidates who had a good experience with a recruiter
Skills to look for
Red flags
- Measures success only by CVs sent or calls made, with no view on whether hires stayed
- Cannot explain how they would push back on a hiring manager's unrealistic brief
- Leaves rejected candidates without a reply
- Describes screening as gut feel without structured questions
- Shares candidate data without consent or ignores data protection rules
- Agency recruiters who submit a candidate to clients without the candidate's agreement
The interview process
- 1
Screening call
Ask which roles and volumes they have recruited for, in-house or agency, and the ATS they used. Ask how many hiring managers they supported at once.
- 2
Intake role-play
A hiring manager gives a vague brief. Watch how the recruiter asks questions, sets expectations and agrees a scorecard.
- 3
Sourcing and advert work sample
Give a real job description and ask for a rewritten advert, a sourcing plan and two outreach messages. A job simulation of a real recruiter's day, from intake to shortlist, is one option if you want a consistent comparison.
- 4
Panel interview
Include a TA lead and a hiring manager. Ask about a hire that went wrong and the metrics they review weekly.
- 5
References
Ask hiring managers about shortlist quality and candidates about communication and honesty.
Start the Recruiter interviews from a ranked shortlist
Cohesyve takes your Recruiter job description, finds and contacts candidates and tests each one on an AI job simulation of the job, so the stages above start with people who have already done the work. Ten candidates free, no card.
How to evaluate
- Quality of questions and outcome in the intake role-play
- Clarity, accuracy and inclusiveness of the rewritten advert
- Relevance of the sourcing plan to the role
- Personalisation of outreach messages
- Use of data to manage their pipeline
- Reference feedback from both hiring managers and candidates
Onboarding
- 1Introduce them to each hiring manager they support with a structured intake in the first fortnight
- 2Walk them through your ATS, interview process, scorecards and offer approval rules
- 3Share your employer value proposition and the reasons candidates have declined offers
- 4Start them on one or two roles before a full requisition load
- 5Agree reporting: pipeline stages, response times and source of hire
Common questions
Should I hire an in-house recruiter or use an agency?
In-house suits regular hiring, because the recruiter learns your teams and keeps the process and data in your business. An agency suits occasional, urgent or specialist roles. Agency fees vary, so check each agency's terms.
What makes a good recruiter?
Clear intake with hiring managers, relevant sourcing, structured screening and fast, honest communication with candidates. Volume of CVs sent is a weak signal on its own.
What is a good work sample for a recruiter?
An intake role-play followed by a sourcing plan, advert rewrite and outreach messages for a real job description. It covers stakeholder handling and craft together.
I am looking for a job. How do I find a recruiter?
Look for recruiters who specialise in your field on LinkedIn, approach agencies that place your type of role, and apply to companies directly too, since in-house recruiters review those applications.
Hiring a Recruiter? Start with a ranked shortlist
Cohesyve takes your Recruiter job description, finds candidates, reaches out to them and runs an AI job simulation of the real work, then ranks them for you.
1,500+
assessments completed
50%
faster time-to-hire
5 min
from JD to assessment
No credit card · 10 free candidates · Plans sized to your hiring volume
From the blog