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HR Interview Questions & Answers

The HR people will probably interview you at some point. Even if they don't you can bet that they're talking to the other interviewers behind the scenes. Understanding what they're looking for gives you competitive edge.

Human resources managers have got 'degrees in people' and they're looking for talent, not just someone to do this job. They want people who'll do this job well and have potential for the future. You can pretty much sum up the HR, or 'personnel', interest at an interview in terms of leadership skills. They want to know how you will shape up if you're given the tricky job of leading a team in their organisation. So before we look at good answers to this question let's agree on what they're probing for and, not least, what leadership is. Let's start from what it's not:

Team member to non-leader:

'Sorry to trouble you but I've got a bit of a problem at home. My mother-in-law is staying with us and she's starting to make life impossible for my wife.'

Non-leader:

'That's not a problem, mate. My wife wants a divorce; now that's a problem!'

The old cliché is true: the best communicators are listeners. Leaders always concentrate on the interests of their people. In fact a good leader may very well know a lot more about you than you do about them.

THIS QUESTION IS ABSOLUTELY ABOUT YOU

Leadership capabilities are the attributes that make you successful, your personal attributes if you like, or what you are naturally good at. Human resources managers are looking at your character as well as your innate ability to manage people and influence how they go about their jobs. Leadership's also to do with energy and getting things done. Many organisations asking a question in this area are also probing for the values that a person brings to the workplace. Everyone needs leadership skills and drive, whether they manage people or not. They're trying to answer the question, 'Can this person achieve success by influencing other people inside and outside the organisation?'

So plan your answer to include a number of these attributes and try to prove them by evidence or example as well as simple assertion. A safe place to start is two of the key attributes of a natural leader - resilience and flexibility. 'I find that I am generally the first person in my team to recover after a setback and generate the idea that starts to get us back on track.' This is a good double-pronged answer showing resilience and your ability to create new ideas. 'A good manager I worked for once demonstrated to me how important it is to be flexible in how you handle people. She treated everyone as unique individuals and got the best out of us in quite different ways.'

Your 'values' as a leader are a touch more tricky. You'll probably demonstrate your values as you go through the interview, but if you want to use an open question like this to make the point, the safest way is to link it to the research you did on the organisation. 'On your website you talk about "quality driving everything we do" and that attracted me. I've always been competitive and I like to do things properly.' Be careful with this one, though; don't lay it on with a trowel. 'Values' is an area where the candidate can be a bit soupy or insincere. The key is to interpret particular values and make sense of them within your job.

TRUST ME, I'M A LEADER

Perhaps the most difficult element of this question is the assertion that people can trust you. You can only do this by example. Try telling them what you did to gain the trust of the team you're working with currently. Or do it the harder way of talking about behaviour from a member of your team which you regarded as inappropriate; what did you say and do about it? This is another double-pronged answer because it demonstrates that the organisation can trust you and the values you work within.


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