Top 8 Most Commonly asked HR Interview Questions With Answers

There are some questions that are frequently asked during Human Resource interviews. As an IT professional, these HR Interview Questions may appear not so important as technical questions, but in reality, they are important as well.

We should understand how to answer them appropriately in order to have a good impression on the interviewer. Because sometimes, what happens is that these answers may put a bad impression before the interviewer which in turn may result in disqualification from the position.

8 Most Common HR Interview Questions:

Let us look at some of the questions below, along with the ways to answer them. This will surely help you to gain confidence in the last round to get your dream job.

1. Tell me about yourself

Out of all HR Interview questions, Tell me about yourself is the first question that is generally asked during the interview. This is how the interview is generally started by the interviewer. Now it is time to understand what interviewer actually wants to know when he asks this question.

The first thing he will get to know is about your communication skill. And second thing interviewer will want to know your priority like what you wants to do in professional life.

Common Mistakes we make while answering:

Here, you should not talk about your favorite cricketer or favorite movies. an interviewee should avoid telling them your whole life story from the beginning. Nobody is interested in that. It should be limited to professional one something related to professional experience. You can summarize your experience and education in short, maybe in a single line.

The second thing we should talk about is the best part of work you have done until now, whether it is related to work or training. If you are fresher you can add your professional courses or training you have attended or all the technology you have used for your project.

How to answer this question

Experienced professionals have something or the other to tell but for freshers, we should prepare with the technology you have learned or worked on to give the impression to tell her that you can be a good asset for the company after selection. You can see the following sample answer if you are applying for the job as a fresher and answer accordingly before the interviewer.

My name is Ram. I am a hardworking engineering graduate. I have done my B.Tech from ‘Delhi College of Engineering ‘. Along with my degree, I have completed .NET or JAVA or Software Testing or SQL course from a training institute which helped me to a great extent during the preparation of my final year project named “ABC”, which in turn, filled me with great confidence to pursue my career further in IT sector.

2. Why do you want this job

The second question that is generally asked is that why do you want this job which in real sense doesn’t have any meaning, especially when someone is fresher. Money is the obvious answer.

Common Mistakes we make while answering:

But you being interviewee, cannot say like that, because the interviewer might have the impression that if interviewee will get more money somewhere else, he/she will leave the current organization and it really puts a bad impression on him.

Our answer should include a motivating factor that is attracting you for the current position. It is not required at this stage that we give a genuine answer. Everybody knows that genuine reason. For answering this question, you being an interviewee,  can prepare in advance by knowing about the work culture of the company.

You can see Glassdoor reviews or other reviews of the company available on the internet or can ask his/her friends/past colleagues who have been working. You can find any appealing reason for the company and present that before the interviewer. The advantage of doing so is that it would look realistic before the interviewer and also will present a genuine picture of your interest in the company.

The second most important thing to be considered while answering this question is that we being interviewee,  should demonstrate our skills in alignment with the open job position.

How to answer this question?

The sample answer could be like this,

I am quite interested to join this organization because it has a good reputation in the market. Also one of the friends who is working here for the last 2 years has said that the organization encourages learning and development while on the job and really rewards hard work. Also, I found very good reviews on Glassdoor for the organization and found it like an organization that I always wanted to work for.

3. What are your strength and weakness

 What are your strengths and weakness? This is the third question that is generally asked in the interview. They only want to know the strength in order to understand how much you can focus on the work assigned to you. And why they ask about weakness is that first of all they want to understand whether you are acknowledging your weakness or not, so that you can have an improvement in them later on.

Common Mistakes we make while answering

Not acknowledging weakness will definitely put a bad impression before the interviewer, because everyone has some or the other weakness. So it is not wise to hide any of the weaknesses. It may also appear fake before the interviewer. We need to give an answer in such a way that it looks more realistic.

Regarding strength, You can say that you are a quick learner and eager to learn new technologies whenever you get time. You can talk about your hardworking nature, adaptability, persistence, flexibility, self-motivation.

Regarding weakness. You can give some of the points and also add the efforts you have taken to improve them which will definitely give a good impression before the interviewer.

How to answer this question?

The sample answer could be like this,

I am a quick learner. Over the past 3 years, I have worked on three different technologies. While working, I also got the opportunity to learn about the latest technology DevOps and communicate with clients which helped me a lot to understand the DevOps ways of working.

I have a habit of learning new things and whenever I get an opportunity to learn, I try to learn it, because I believe that learning always helps you whether it is professional life or personal life. I actively seek feedback to help me grow.

You can also include your weakness along with ways to improve it. You can include the following in your answer.

Sometimes, I find it hard to manage my time and cut too close to the deadline and to overcome this, I have used Sticky notes on my working machine. I am also using my calendars to include my daily, week weekly, long term tasks so that I can handle my work better.

4. What are the challenges that you have faced?

What are the challenges that you have faced? this question is also asked frequently by an interviewer. By asking this question interviewer wants to know if you can work under stress and your problem-solving capabilities.

Common Mistakes we make while answering:

One thing that should be kept in mind that we should not take it at a personal level and answer something which is related to a team or manager or some related issues. The answer should be focused on professional challenges and solution that was found to overcome it.

How to answer this question?

You can use your experience while answering this question. A sample answer is given below as given below.

When we were running short of the project deadline, then I coordinated with my whole team to get the schedule back on track. We troubleshot the issue and sorted it out. I found that lack of communication was the main reason behind this delay and restriction of knowledge within a few team members was also one of the main reasons.

So, I scheduled weekly ” share and learn “session which led the team to be in synchronization with each other and has reduced the communication gap among the team members, to a great extent. This challenge taught me that apart from technical knowledge sharing, proper communication channels should be there in the team so that everybody is in sync with each other and there is no unnecessary delay due to the communication gap among team members.

5. Where you want to see yourself in 5 years?

Another question may be like Where you want to see yourself in 5 years? The reason for asking this question is that interviewer may want to know whether the interviewee is ambitious about his / her career and is his / her future goals are in the interest of the company.

Common Mistakes we make while answering:

Please don’t give an answer like I want to be in your place or I would like to be CEO of this company or I would like to be in some other company after 5 years. These answers may put a negative impression on the interviewer. We should prevent ourselves from answering like this.

How to answer this question?

You can answer it based on your experience, but the sample answer could be like this,

I am really excited about this position. In the next five years, I would like to have expertise in the software testing domain and I know that this job will certainly give me that opportunity. I am also excited to develop my managerial skill and in the next couple of years, may take lead in some of the projects.

6. Are you planning to you have children?

Are you planning to you have children? It is a baseless question. But we cannot say before interviewer like that.

Common Mistakes we make while answering

But during the interview, you can not show your anger. You have to deal with the situation diplomatically. Maybe the interviewer wants to know how much committed you would be while working in the company. You can politely answer the question and redirect the conversation back to the job-related discussion. It will also show your interest in the job before the interviewer.

How to answer this question?

Your answer could be like this…….

You know I am not quite there yet. But I would like to know more about career progression in your company. Can you tell me more about that? 

7. Do you have any questions for me?

Do you have any questions for me? This is also one of the most frequently asked questions during the interview, generally at the end of it.

Common Mistakes we make while answering

By asking this question interviewer wants to know how much interested you are in the job you are applying for. Being interviewee. We should avoid asking too many questions and try to leave the conversation on a positive note. Also, we should not avoid asking a question. Otherwise, the interviewer will think that you are not much interested in this position. Also, avoid asking questions related to salary or any personal questions.

How to answer this question?

You can utilize this opportunity to ask open job-related questions. You may also ask questions related to the organization and its culture, to the interviewer. It will show your interest in the company before the interviewer.

8. Why should we hire you?

Why should we hire you? It is also one of the frequently asked questions. This is a very important question, it is also the opportunity to tell everything before the interviewer and expose all your skills to showcase your suitability for the applied position. While answering this question, you can justify your skills according to the requirement of the company.

By asking this question the interviewer wants to assess the special quality of the interviewee which distinguishes him or her from other candidates who are appearing for the interview because the ultimate goal of the interviewer is to select the best candidate among all those who have come for an interview.

Common Mistakes we make while answering

we should not either be too humble or not too arrogant or appear as if begging for a job. You should answer is normally trying to get proper justification for your fitness for the position. We should avoid bragging about ourselves, as it would put you in bad pictures of the interviewer.

How to answer this question?

You may give an answer based on the job description and skill you are having. A sample answer could be like this.

From your job description, I noticed that you are looking for someone who has good communication skills as well as technical skills, for which I feel myself perfect fit for the job. I am an effective communicator with very good skills in giving presentations as well as communicating via Email. I am proficient in using the number of software systems required to keep track of data.

Summary

Overall, we can say that we should not take HR Interview Questions casually, thinking that these are not technical questions. These questions if answered appropriately can create a good impression on the interviewer which can lead your selection for the open position.