During an interview, the recruiter may ask you the question “do you have any other leads?” » or “have you had any other interviews?” “. How to answer this question so as not to ruin your chances and succeed in your recruitment process? Discover all our tips!
“Do you have any other leads?” » This trick question that many recruiters ask is feared by many candidates. Nevertheless, it makes sense, both for the rest of the recruitment process and can be a very good sign for your application to a company. Don’t worry, there is no possible right answer to this question, but you have to be careful about the elements you bring to the recruiter.
Why does the recruiter ask you if you have had other interviews?
This question meets several recruiter objectives. The first is to know how far along you are in your other recruitment processes. This can therefore demonstrate their interest in your profile. He is trying to find out if he should make you an offer fairly quickly or if he still has a little time to decide before recruiting you.
However, by asking “do you have any other leads”, the recruiter can seek to know other elements about your personality. He may want to know if you are ready to come to his company or if, on the contrary, you seem rather unexcited by his offer and more interested in what other companies have to offer you.
He may also want to determine how serious and motivated you are in your job search. By asking you if you have had other interviews, the recruiter may want to know if you have carried out a targeted search for a position or missions or if, on the contrary, you have applied to other companies without necessarily worry about the sector of activity and the functions you will have to perform. This may indicate your lack of seriousness or rigor.
Finally, a recruiter interested in your profile to ask you “do you have any other leads?” » simply to find out if you are about to join a competing company. However, as you will see a little later, you are not obliged to give the names of the organizations in which you are currently interviewing.
How to answer the question: “do you have any other ideas?” »
We can never say it enough: you must always be honest in an interview. You don’t want to give a bad impression of yourself to a recruiter or even get a job based on lies you told in an interview. This is especially true about the skills you have. Let’s imagine that you mentioned excellent command of Excel for a position that requires its daily use, while you only have some knowledge of this tool. You must therefore answer honestly the question “have you had other interviews?” »
In your response, several elements must be highlighted. If this is the case, do not hesitate to mention that you are a candidate favored by other companies. This allows you to highlight the rare and precious side of your profile. This element could possibly push your recruiter to give you a much quicker response.
To answer the question “do you have any other ideas?” “, you must also succeed in demonstrating that, if you have of course had other interviews in perhaps competing companies, you are strongly interested in the recruiter’s proposal. A good way to divert the subject and show your interest in the position can be to mention what you are looking for above all in a company or in the functions offered by a company.
Finally, you can raise possible employment offers from other companies. This further reinforces the valuable dimension of your profile. This can also allow you to free up a budget and be a little more demanding on your remuneration or your benefits, for example.
The don’t are recruiting
Of course, we told you, you shouldn’t lie about the progress of your job search. So, you should definitely not say that you have had interviews in many companies if this is not the case. This can give a false image of you to the recruiter and impact your application.
However, you have to be honest to a certain extent. You are not obliged to mention the names of companies in which you have other leads. However, you can mention the strengths of the other positions you applied for, what you liked and convinced you. This can also work in your favor since the recruiter will know which criteria to use so that his offer is attractive.
If ever, after the question “do you have any other ideas”, your interlocutor insists on knowing which companies you applied to, you can answer without mentioning the name of these establishments. You have the opportunity to mention the fact that these companies are big names in the sector of activity that interests you.
Reply to “do you have any other ideas” when this is not the case
In some cases, you don’t necessarily have any other leads, either because you only applied to one company, or because you simply weren’t called back. In these cases, you have to manage to promote your profile, while explaining to your recruiter that you have not had any other interviews.
You can therefore start by explaining that you are rigorous and selective in your job search. You are looking for companies that match your values and that the company in which you are interviewing totally responds to what makes you tick. Then, you can specify that you have particular expectations of your future position, emphasizing the fact that you are looking for specific missions and that only this announcement matches your professional project. The objective is to position you as the ideal candidate who is very interested in the offer, but who perfectly matches the profile sought by the company.
