Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tell Me About Yourself
Tell Me About Yourself
Concluding with a last word, Be confident and well prepared before an interview.
Good Luck.
While asking this the interviewer wants to see, how do you identify yourself with the jo
role. Relate your educational qualification, work experience and personal qualities wit
the role to answer this question.
A possible answer could be, the role of a human resource manager needs the person t
connect with others on a human level and help them meet their aspirations while
following the company's policies, structure and rules. I think with an experience of 'X'
years, I know well how to deal with humans and my last employment has given me a g
insight into the rules and regulations an HR manager has to keep in mind while operat
You may find this question asked in different forms during the interview. The purpose o
asking the same question in same way is to judge the consistency of candidate’s
answers.
Ensure that you have read the job specifications properly before you appear for the
interview. While answering this question, identify the qualities a person needs as an H
Manager and see how you fit into them. Take out the qualities which make you a strong
candidate for this position and offer them to the interviewer. The qualities which are
usually sought in the candidate for this role are: Knowledge, Intuition, Versatility,
Flexibility, Focus and above all a human touch in every thing you do. If you have any ex
qualification like the knowledge of a software useful in handling the job, you can discu
that also during the interview.
It is absolutely OK to accept that every human being has weaknesses but if you can m
your weaknesses work to your advantage that makes you a winner. A probable answer
this question could be, while dealing with the employee’s problems at times I get very
attached to them but I think this helps me in understanding their problems better and
offering them a solution while being within the company limits. I have experienced tha
this attitude of mine towards the staff help them being more open to me and loyal to th
company.
Knowledge, Intuition, Versatility, Flexibility, Focus and above all a human touch in ever
thing you do.
A better way would be to identify some work areas that an HR manager has to perform
his daily routine and relate them to your interest. A possible answer could be, I liked to
a part of the recruitment team which can identify right people and put them into right
places. An employment into recruitment slowly developed into a full fledged HR
profession.
Depending on the size of the organization, the HR manager has a team performing eac
these roles.
There are many people who actually get into HR after graduating in a totally different
stream. To some people it just happens while for others it is a deliberate move.
If it just happened to you, you can say that I was on a look out for a job when I got the
first opportunity in HR. I took it up and slowly realized that I have started liking it. I
brushed up my skills by keeping myself updated about the new developments in the fie
and acquiring a professional degree (If you have got one.)
If it was a deliberate move, you can discuss your reasons for moving into this role.
Usually these two terms are used interchangeably but there does lie a difference
between the two.
- Personnel management is more of an independent task than HRM which needs to inv
the managers of all departments for developing a better team.
Here you have to bear in mind that if you are offered the position of a Personnel Manag
you may be required to perform HRM functions and vice versa.
Salary can be termed as the fixed remuneration you are offered for your services while
incentive means some extra benefits that you are offered based on your performance.
Incentive can be in cash or kind.
Fringe benefit can be defined as the benefits provided by the employer to its employee
addition to the regular salary. These include health plans, paid holidays, cafeteria,
company transport etc.
If you can’t add any value to the company, the interviewer will not be very interested i
knowing how this job can offer you a career progression and how much you enjoy takin
up new challenges. The best way is to keep the focus of your answer on how your skill
experience and personal qualities fit into the requirements of this particular position.
Analyse the requirements of the job profile well before you go for the interview. Relate
your skills, experience and qualification with the and these are reasons why they shou
consider you for this position.
If there are any new things that you are expected to perform in the new job you can sa
that every new job needs a person to do something new and you have an ability to gras
new things quickly. Back this up with an example from your last job.
You can say that competition and new challenges motivate you at work.
The reasons for switching the job could be numerous. The best answer to offer for this
question is to say, “for better prospects”.
Now they can ask you another question, what do you mean by better prospects? To thi
you can say, better prospects in terms of experience, and exposure.
If you have been made redundant, put your words across very carefully. Your wrong wo
can give an impression that only you were the one whose position was made redundan
which hardly might be the case.
May be you can say something like, “Over last 8 months a lot of restructuring was goin
on in the company and 40 positions became surplus. One of them was mine but I have
learnt a lot during my tenure at XYZ company and I am sure I can add a lot of value to
position like the one we are discussing about”.
Find an answer to this question from the recent past and focus on the qualities that w
required to achieve it.
The purpose of this question is to estimate your understanding of the position. Make s
that you have analysed the requirements of the role before appearing for the interview
Focus your answer on the skills, personal qualities and experience you would seek in a
person for this position.
Staying with the same company for too long may be considered as lack of ambition in
candidate.
You can put this negative thought to rest by telling the interviewer how you were addin
value to yourself being in the same company. Discuss some different kinds of
assignments you handled and their importance to the company.
Too much job hopping gives an impression that the candidate is unstable and unreliabl
you have switched jobs very often you can say that you did it to broaden your experien
You do not have all the experience we are seeking for this
position.
The answer to this question lies in your analysis of the requirements for this role. If yo
have most of the qualities required for the role, you can highlight that and say that you
understand every new job needs a person to learn new things and you are pretty capab
to picking up new things quickly.
Back this up with an example about the new things you learnt at your last job.
Interviewer knows that you won’t ask for a permission in office to attend the interview
You can say that you took an off from the office to attend this interview.
The agenda behind this question is to assess if you are a team player or a solo perform
There will be times when you will be required to work in a team while at others you wi
be required to work independently. You should prepare yourself to work in both the
situations.
A good answer to this question can be, I can adjust very well in a team but if required
work alone with more responsibility on some project, I can handle that also very
effectively.
This question can be handled in two ways depending on the situation in which the
interview is going on:
- First way: If the situation is light and you have built up a good rapport with the
interviewer, you can say that, “I am the diamond of his team, you must pick me up”. Th
needs to be accompanied by a right body language.
- Second way: If the discussion is proceeding in a serious situation, you can pick up so
formal appraisal he gave you and say that I think he would repeat it here.
The agenda of this question is to understand if you were the one who caused the probl
You might have thought about leaving your present job earlier but later decided to
continue. To answer this question you need to recollect the reason for which you want
to change the job and then your thought process which made you decide to continue.
You can discuss about the positive aspects of the job, any advancement opportunities
saw or any type of flexibility which kept you attached to your last employment.
The purpose of this question is to see how do you handle criticism. If you have been in
such a situation, you can tell a bit about it and then focus your answer on how you
handled it.
If you have never been in such a situation, you can say that though you have not been
such a situation, you know that it is important not to lose your cool and improve your
work.
You don’t seem to have lead in your last role. How would you
be able to do it here?
If you know how to do the work and you have leadership qualities, you can lead a team
You can say that, I know the job well and I have the qualities which need me to lead he
I believe I am ready to take a more challenging and responsible role than the one I am
currently playing.
Being a boss means being ready to even part away with your most favourite people if t
are not able to add value to the business. However, it is important to deal with firing an
employee in a proper way so that there's no bad feeling on either of the sides. If you ha
not fired any one, you can say that " Though I haven't fired any off till now but if I am
faced with such a situation, I would get to the root of the problem, try to solve it, apply
methods like job rotation where ever possible and if nothing works, I'll tell the person t
for these reasons we need to part our ways".
When faced with a situation like this, may be you can try to put that person to another
and if that also doesn't work you might have to fire them off. The question is to check
ability to make practical decisions in favour of business.
Through this question the interviewer wants to find out if you can see problems with y
performance or not. Tell him that you will analyse the problem and its reasons and wor
on each one of them.
You can say that your work style is performance oriented and you love to enjoy the wo
Most companies will find this answer convincing.
The agenda behind this question is to understand your management style. A good answ
to this question could be, I will try to establish the reasons for non-performance of the
team and eradicate them.
Don't jump at a figure immediately when this question is asked. Try to turn the ball bac
into the interviewer’s court and ask him the type of salary the company offers for a
position like this.
If you are required to answer this question, mention a range rather than mentioning an
exact figure but don't keep the range too vast. Probably you can say, I should be
comfortable with something in the range of mid fifties for example.
What will you do if you are offered a job with a salary higher
than this?
By asking this question the interviewer tries to analyze if the candidate will leave the
for a couple of thousands.
Recruiting a candidate is a costly and time consuming affair, so the employers are
cautious before they hire someone. You can answer this question by saying that you w
discuss the issue with your senior and ask his views on your growth in the present job
and if you see that there is a potential to grow in the present job, you will stick otherw
you will politely inform him about your decision to move ahead in life.
Did you think of changing your present job earlier?If yes, wh
do you think made you stay back?
It is possible that you might have thought about leaving your present job earlier but lat
decided to continue. Here, you also need to think about what made you think about
changing your job in the first place. Now you can talk about the pros and cons of chan
the job that went through your mind. You can discuss about the positive aspects of the
job, any advancement opportunities you saw or any type of flexibility which kept you
attached to your last employment.
Did you ever face a situation when your work was criticized?
What did you do?
You can face moments when your work will be criticized but you have to remember tha
only those who work can make mistakes. The main purpose of this question is to see y
attitude when you are criticized and how you deal with it. If you face this question and
you have been in a situation where your work was criticized, tell a bit about it and then
tell the interviewer the way you dealt with it - if you think that there can be a better
approach to what you are doing, evaluate it and accept it. The most important thing is
remember that you do not lose your cool on hearing negative remarks about yourself.
If you have never lead in the past, how would you do it in this
role?
If you know how to do the work and you have the right attitude, you can lead. Many tim
you will find yourself leading unofficially in the current role - it is more important to ha
the leadership traits. So, you can say that, I know the job well and I have the qualities
which need me to lead here. So, I think I am ready to move on to a more challenging an
responsible positions like this.
The basic purpose is to check your analytical and communication skills. So, if you face
this question, analyze the job requirement properly and frame your answer. However, in
senior positions you would require a combination of both, so you can say that though I
love to play with words, I know figures are an inseparable part of any business. So, I am
quite comfortable working with them too or vice versa.
Are there any kinds of people you can not work with?
The basic purpose is to check your level of maturity here and how well you get along w
people. At work, you find different personality traits and with time you learn to deal wi
them. So, rather than saying that "I can not work with people with this particular
personality trait" focus your answer on some traits which even employers do not like. F
e.g. People who are not team players, people who are not committed to their work, peo
who do not like to take responsibilities. The interviewer will also think that "I don't like
work with these types of people too."
Have you ever fired anyone? How did you handle it?
Being a boss means being ready to even part away with your most favorite people if th
are not working in interest of business. So, this is more about your emotional quotient.
However, it is important to deal with firing an employee in a proper way so that there's
bad feeling on either of the sides. If you have not fired any one, you can say that " Thou
I haven't fired any off till now but if I am faced with such a situation, I would get to the
root of the problem, try to solve it, apply methods like job rotation where ever possible
and if nothing works, I'll tell the person that for these reasons we need to part our way
Pressure is an inseparable part of business. However, it can take different forms. At tim
it will be the pressure of escalating your performance while at others; it could be the
pressure of meeting the deadlines. The purpose of this question is to see, how you
handled that pressure. So, mainly talk about what did you do to not let your focus dilut
like drawing a proper plan to meet the expectations, prioritizing the right activities,
starting and finishing them till end and staying dedicated to the final outcome.
If you are a team leader and one of your team member is not
able to meet his targets on a regular basis. You discussed it
with him and tried all measures to improve his performance
that role but nothing works. What would you do?
When faced with a situation like this, may be you can try to put that person to another
and if that also doesn't work you might have to fire them off. This is again about emoti
intelligence and making practical decisions in favor of business.
The purpose here is to see if you are able to identify the problems with your own
performance and take corrective measures. To answer this question, you can say
something like, "If I face a problem with my own performance, I will try to estimate ho
big is the problem, what is causing the problem and then take action on each of the lis
things."
You can influence a team only if you have analyzed the situation properly and are able
put it across to your team in a right way. So, this question is mainly a test of your
analytical and communication skills.
This is quite straight question, discuss about the key performance indices against whi
your performance was rated. This also shows your suitability for the position.
When you are asked an odd question like this, the interviewer is not expecting a right
answer. He mainly wants to see your reaction to such an unexpected question and you
approach to answer it. Stay calm, think aloud and give an answer.
You can just say that you manage according to the situation. One style doesn't work
always.
Don't get into too many details. Just point out some qualities which every boss thinks
has like: work loving, fun loving, cheerful, energetic, knowledgeable, understanding an
fair to sub-ordinates. No boss would like to admit that they don't have these qualities.
You can say that your work style is performance oriented and you love to enjoy the wo
Most companies would buy this.
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If possible, try to frame any negatives as a positive. This goes for all HR Manager
interview questions and answers. Everyone has heard the tired trope of listing
perfectionism as a negative, but there are ways to sell your negatives that aren’t
quite so obvious. Calling yourself confident and authoritative is better than saying
that you are bossy, even though they are, essentially, the same thing. Knowing how
to properly sell yourself is the key to doing well in a job interview.
Another good idea is to let your potential employer know that building a community
is more important than specific individuals. Your potential employer will want to
know that you understand that making sure the company, as a whole, is strong is
better than fostering a few talented people.
These HR Manager interview questions and answers are just a selection of the
questions you may be asked in you interview. Make sure to research further into the
questions you may be asked and think deeply about what makes you perfect for the
position. Research into the company you are interviewing with and make sure to read
the job listing a few more times before your interview. These tips will give you a clear
idea what the position entails and what the company is looking for in an HR Manager.