Interview Questions For HR Manager

Before attending any interview for HR manager, it is always advised that the job applicants prepare themselves about the company, frequently asked interview questions so that they do not become blank when being questioned in an interview. Be it any position that one wants to apply for an interview, preparations are good to impress the recruiter or interviewer and obtain the job.

HR Manager

HR managers play a vital role in any organization. They have a huge responsibility to handle all the important details related to an organization’s employees and they make sure that every staff gets paid appropriately, employees could utilize their medical and insurance benefits, and that all the employees are treated ethically and respectfully. Since it’s the HR manager’s role to manage all the people in an organization, there are chances it is not especially not appreciated as it is their responsibility.

Roles of an HR Manager

An HR manager is the priority point of contact person for anything and everything related to employees in an organization. Their responsibilities include such as recruiting, performance management, training, employee relations, talent management, etc.,

Their responsibilities often include:

• Recruiting the relevant skilled and talented employees consistently.

• Understanding the impact of all employees in the organization along with recruits.

• Framing an organized onboarding process.

• Onboarding new employees based on the structured system already established.

• Develop an adaptive work environment that helps to nourish all the employees who want to grow in the organization.

• HR strategies are to be framed so that they are aligned with the business goals.

• Frame and upgrade compensation and benefits programs in terms of the company’s policies.

• Cooperate with the management in handling grievances, issues, and complaints raised by or related to employees.

• Ensure that employees are aware of the company’s guidelines and policies.
• Diversity in an organization is highly encouraged and HR managers need to ensure such goals are met.

• Need to structure and restructure employee training and development programs

• To ensure all employees including HR departments in an organization abide by the rules and regulations of the company.

• Organize and develop events for employees

• Enrich the company culture 

• The employee review process happening at all departments must be governed.

• To handle any employee-related concerns leading to investigations, terminations, etc., at the workplace.

• To report HR metrics to senior management and the higher authorities in an organization.

HR Manager Interview Questions

An HR Manager has a wide range of skill sets and hands-on experience. So, it is a must for the interviewer to look for the qualities and requirements based on the open position. The questions from the interviewer should be such that to get to know about the job applicant from a management perspective as to whether he or she will fit in the required role.

General interview questions including personal and usual checklist

• Tell about yourself

• Describe in detail your career and background

• Could you please list out your strengths and weaknesses?

• Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

• Where do you see yourself 3 years from now?

• Are you comfortable working rotating shifts and during weekends?

• Describe in brief your short-term and long-term goals?

• What do you think is your most proud achievement in your career?

• What is your motivation mantra?

• How do you spend your free time?

• How do you handle failures?

• What do you expect from the company as an employee?

• Why do you think we should hire you for this role?

• How do you think you are suitable for this position?

• Explain your leadership qualities and scenarios where you have implemented them?

• Will you be able to work in a pressurized environment?

• Did someone refer you for this role?

• Do you regret any decision and explain why?

• How would you describe yourself as a boss?

• What are the management skills that you have implied in the role?

• How do you deal with an irresponsible team member?

• Describe a few words about your passion?

• What is the best piece of advice you have received or you have given to someone?

• How do you balance your work-life and job?

• What are the software tools that you are trained and experienced with?

• How do you handle an unhappy customer?

• How do you interact and handle your team members?

• Hard work or smart work, which one do you believe in and why?

• Is there any particular reason for you to change jobs so frequently?

• How do you keep yourself updated with the technologies?

• On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate yourself as a manager?

• How soon do you adapt to any new environment?

• What do you think are the most important qualities of a leader?
• Are you interested in involving other extra activities in the workplace?

• Will you be able to relocate or travel if needed for the job?

• Why is the reason for you to quit your current job?

• How do you handle criticisms?

• What are your salary expectations?

• When will you be able to join this role?

• Do you want to ask any questions to the interviewers?

Basic HR manager interview questions

Let’s see a few basic questions that can be expected during an HR Manager interview as follows:

Why did you choose HR as a profession?

• For this question, the candidate could illustrate the facts that made them believe they wanted to be an HR.

• Sample Answer: From my childhood, I believed that I had people-handling qualities. Also, as I grew up, I showed leadership skills which encouraged me to pursue HR as my career.

Whom do you consider as your mentor in the HR domain and what are your learnings from him or her?

• For this, one could say any superior from the previous work that they look up to and their way of work that inspired them

• Sample Answer: My manager from my previous job is my mentor. From him, I learned how to use leadership qualities effectively and not be too bossy at the same time.

During your college days, which subjects in human resources were your most favorite?

• In this, the candidate could answer about any of their favorite subjects in HR, having in mind that if there are any further questions related to that subject, the candidate should be able to answer them

• Sample Answer: Management Problem-Solving was my favorite subject in HR during my college days as it gives an idea of how to handle and solve problems professionally.

What interests you the most about working in human resources?

• A candidate could list out the reason why they like being an HR employee for this question

• Sample Answer: I like to be in an influential position. Also, being an HR employee gives me the chance to interact with many people, which I like to do.

How would you describe your ideal workplace?

• This question is quite important as this would help the interviewer to decide what would the candidate require to do their job successfully and whether that will help be a correct fit for the company

• Sample Answer: I would prefer my ideal workplace to be fun, challenging, and supportive so that it will be a healthy environment for me to grow in. 

As an HR employee, what are your future goals and ambitions in this field?

• For this question, the candidate must answer in a way that their goal should benefit the growth of the company as well.

• Sample Answer: I would like to bring in cost reduction wherever possible so that it could benefit the company’s revenue. Also, my ambition is to promote learning and development as free and must-to-do courses that will encourage employees to widen their knowledge about all processes in the company.

How do you think the growth of human resources in the next five years will be?

• In this question, the interviewer will try to analyze the vision of HR evolution in the candidate’s mindset.

• Sample Answer: Employee engagement will increase, usage of software tools to digitize HR activities and social media influences in recruiting employees.

What interests you about our company and why do you want to work with us?

• For this question, the candidate must answer by praising the qualities of the company that would benefit their career growth

• Sample Answer: This company is vigorously growing in the communication sector and I feel my experience and skill set would help further the company’s growth. Also, it would help me to learn and develop these skills so that there would be personal, professional, and financial benefits for both of us.

What according to you are the reasons that you believe that you are the correct candidate for the HR manager position in our company?

• In this question, the interviewer expects the candidate to give an appealing answer so that they could relate them for the open position

• Sample Answer: I’m confident in my profession and I already have experience as an HR Manager earlier so I believe that I have the necessary skills that you are looking for.

HR manager interview questions about experience and background

The following are examples of HR manager interview questions with sample answers that are related to the candidate’s work experience and background:

What is your management style?

• Management style is basically how the supervisor handles or communicates with their subordinates. So, while answering this question, the candidate must remember it is related to their behavior in their job role.

• Sample Answer: I believe in adjusting my management techniques to fit in according to the people that I manage. So, collaborating with the team as one among them and guiding them when they need assistance is my way of working.

As an HR manager, what qualities do you possess that will help you drive results in our company?

• For this question, the candidate must disclose how they would effectively handle people management and implement techniques that would help to drive business results for the company.

• Sample Answer: My people management and problem-solving skills would help to initiate employee benefit programs that inspire people to work in the company and implement effective cost reduction in required projects that helps to drive results.

What are your fields of expertise in HR that qualify you for this HR position in our company?

• In this question, the interviewer would try to connect the candidate’s answer relevancy to the job role.

• Sample Answer: Since I have been an HR employee for almost 8 years, I have had the opportunity to work in various fields like documentation, recruiting, health benefits, staff relations, etc., so I believe those experiences would make me a good fit for this role.

Do you have prior experience as an HR manager?  If so, describe your way of leading a project team and its experiences?

• If the candidate has experience as an HR manager, they could list out a few scenarios which they handled and have been appreciated. If the candidate has no prior experience as an HR manager, they could say “no but list out certain qualities of leadership that they have shown in their team”

• Sample Answer: When I worked as Sales Manager, I have increased the number of sales compared to previous quarters by analyzing the sales techniques and reworking the sales work methods.

What is your hands-on knowledge with software tools used in HR and explain their usage?

• The candidate must make an answer on which tool they have basic knowledge or complete experience as they might use the same tool in this company as well.

• Sample Answer: I have hands-on experience in the following software: Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), Human Capital Management (HCM), an Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

Please give a scenario where you have handled conflict in an organization?

• In this question, the interviewer expects the candidate to have to listen, action-taking, and solution providing skills 

• Sample Answer: Once, when an employee from a team was identified for delayed performance, I had a one-to-one conversation with him and he said that there was an extra workload for him. When discussing with the entire team, I was able to understand that he was given additional work that is not under his job description. So, I had a call with the project manager and has to reallocate the tasks.

Other HR manager interview questions

Let’s see some common other interview questions and sample answers that could be asked during an HR manager recruitment:

As an HR employee, what is your recruiting strategy?

• For this question, the candidate needs to answer the recruitment strategy based on the current trends of recruitment.

• Sample Answer:  Using social media profile to analyze talents, evaluate the existing recruitment process and reframe its structure, if needed.

How would you describe job elimination based on your work experience in HR?

• In this question, the candidate has to express their people management skills in a crisis like this.

• Sample Answer: I would initially thank the team for their hard work so far, and get straight to the fact that things are not going as planned so the job has to be dropped. I’ll ensure to assist them to get into other open positions based on their skill set.

How do you handle conflicts in the organization?

• In this question, the interviewer wants to know your conflict resolution skills, which is considered an important skill for an HR manager position.

• Sample Answer: Since I have a good connection with everyone, I tried to initially understand the issue and involve the concerned parties. After getting both ends’ feedback, I’ll try to bring to a solution.

How do you deal with an unethical situation in the organization?

• These are quite sensitive questions and depict the strong problem management qualities of the candidate.

• Sample Answer: I would first look in for the evidence. If the incident is true, I’d appreciate the person who reported the unethical incident then setting up a strong code of conduct and initially giving a warning, and monitoring their future behavior.

What are the cost reduction efforts that you have handled?

• In this question, the interviewer expects the candidate to give some cost reduction efforts that would benefit their organization

• Sample Answer: In my previous company, I had afforded to get a management training software course for the team for a much cheaper price compared to the existing one, this indeed saved money for the company.

How do you ensure team cooperation as a leader?

• For this question, the candidate must answer in a way that depicts their people management skills in this context.

• Sample Answer: I maintain a friendly yet professional relationship with my team members. There is no partiality or preference among them for me. I ensure to spread my positivity and team spirit nature to my team as well by motivating them regularly. Frequent meetings and short discussions with them helped to sort out differences if any.

Which performance management system have you implemented and achieved good results on performance review?

• In an organization employees’ performance review plays a major role as it depicts employees’ efforts and rating their performance is a major criterion. Employee satisfaction is highly valued in an organization so the candidate is expected to have experience in such scenarios.

• Sample Answer: I have implied 360 Degree Feedback and also self-assessment methods to improve the performance review of each employee.

How do you measure the impact of employee training?

• This question is asked to analyze whether the effective utilization of training is done by the employees and is managed properly by the Manager.

• Sample Answer: Self-assessments, KPI training, discussions, and surveys could help to understand whether the employee is given proper training, also, to know whether the trainer has provided proper knowledge transfer.

Which talent management system do you prefer and explain why?

• Talent Management System helps to organize the HR works and responsibilities. Storing and managing data digitally is quite useful so the candidates could relate to the TMS tool they have used and reply to this question.

• Sample Answer: The previous employer with whom I worked used Workday HCM software. Since it is a cloud-based software and it could handle multiple functionalities like analytics, planning, payroll, talent, financials, etc., it was user-friendly and easy to work with.

Is there a time you have helped any entry-level employee to build their career path through training and development programs?

• Since learning and development is also an important sector of HR in an organization that influences the growth of the employee within the company. As an HR manager, the candidate’s contribution shows their interest in benefiting the employee and the organization.
• Sample Answer: Yes, I have. When an employee who is just starting after college is in the team, everything in the workplace is new to them. So, I have a one-on-one session with them to give them a clear idea about the workplace and how to improve in their career based on their skills. Depending on their area of performance, I have helped them to apply for certain training programs related to leadership qualities, Performance Management sessions, etc., which helped them when they were applying for their next higher position in the organization.

How do you, as an HR Manager, evaluate a new joiner based on their initial 3 months at work?

• The first 90 days of any new joiner is crucial for the employee themselves as well as their HR manager because as a recruiter they have to be content that they have selected the right person for the role. So, the interviewer expects to see your analysis of a new employee in the initial days through this question.

• Sample Answer: I would frequently connect with the employee and understand the current training process they are undertaking. I’d suggest they set some goals based on their current activities and I will monitor and provide feedback from time to time. Apart from work, ensuring the new joiner follows the company’s ethics and principle.

Conclusion

The interview of the HR Manager is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the respective candidate and how they will fit in for the role and the company. Since, the HR manager position is resourceful and influential, finding the right candidate is highly important.