The Human Resources Interview

The Human Resources interview or HR interview can sometimes also be referred to as a screening interview.

Not all screening interviews are HR interviews since a screening interview might take place with the hiring manager who is simply trying to quickly find suitable candidates while rejecting others who are not suitable.

A human resources interview generally involves meeting with a representative from the Human Resources department of the company you're interviewing with. (You'll see why I underlined the word "generally" below.)

Should you eventually get to the job offer stage, you might find that this same person (or their department anyways) speaks with you regarding salary, benefits and other components of the offer that they make you.

Typically, questions that you might be asked during this interview relate to your background, work experience, personality and topics of that nature.

Here is a short list of possible questions you might be asked just to give you a sense as to what you might be asked:

-What are your day to day responsibilities in your current job?
-Why did you leave your last job?
-Why do you want to work for our company?
-What do you know about our company?
-Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?

Again, this is a very short list just to give you a sense as to what you might expect.

Having said that, some HR interviews are far-more in depth and challenging than the relatively simple questions I referred to above.

I can think of several HR managers I worked with who tended to ask far more difficult questions and in some cases, administered written tests or questions that involved the job applicant providing them with written responses to their questions before the actual interview.

The moral of the story?

Try as best you can to understand before the human resources interview how the interview will take place. If you are using a recruiter, get them to give you specific information regarding what you will be facing when you attend the HR interview.

Again, some human resources interviews can be relatively straight-forward screening interviews but do not go into the interview assuming it will be a cakewalk that requires no preparation on your part.

I recall one HR manager I used to work with whose interviews were pretty brutal and she was far tougher and more demanding than some of the actual hiring managers.