During a hiring process, it is common practice that a HR representative from a business would conduct part or a separate interview with specific HR-related questions. As a HR representative, you might be wondering what sort of questions you should be asking a potential candidate who is looking to join the company. So here are the top questions to ask in a HR interview.
Why did you apply for this role?
Your aim with this question is to evaluate exactly why the candidate is interested in the role. It will help you to identify whether they have the motivation to join the business or excel at that particular role, or whether they are a person who commonly applies for lots of roles hoping one will stick. You will be looking for them to provide detail, perhaps discuss their motivations, and openly discuss what their plan is.
What experience do you have that is relevant to this job role?
Asking this question should help you to identify whether they are right for the job role. You will be looking out for details and specific fact-based reasons as to why they have the experience relevant to this job role. It will also give you a chance to idenfoity whether the candidate has understood the job role or the vacancy advert. The ideal candidate should find this question very easy to answer.
What is your experience in … ?
While similar to the last question, you will be looking for evidence specific to certain elements of the job role. So you may ask what experience they have relevant to the particular part of the job. You can decide what that is, or ask this question in regards to different parts of the job to get a more direct answer.
Why are you leaving your current job? Why did you leave your previous job?
A candidate should never respond to this negatively without there being a justification, and this is what you are looking out for. Negativity can be a red flag for you. So look out for answers where there are concise reasons such as career progression, changes in lifestyle or circumstances at home, etc. Even if there is a negative reason for leaving a previous company, honesty is also important. Be mindful of their attitude more than anything else when it comes to this question.
What do you know about the business?
You might want to ask them about services and products you have, or what their perception of the brand values and company objectives are. You could also be broad with this question and see what answer you get back. It will be an insight into whether the candidate has researched the business and understand the concepts of what the company is all about.
Questions specific to their CV and previous job roles
Lastly, you may want to delve deeper into their CV. There could be a couple of potential questions that could seem relevant depending on the candidate. These are:
- Tell me about the gap in your CV
- Differences in job types, such as changing industries or going back to previous employers
- What are your salary expectations?
Hopefully, this will help you ask the right questions in a HR interview.