Any interview can be broken down into seven different components. This article will specifically address one of these components: HR questions. To learn about the other sections of an interview and how to prepare for them, refer to this article: How to prepare for any interview | The 7 key components
HR, short for Human Resource, forms a major part of most interviews. In contrast to other sections of your interview, HR questions don’t focus on your technical skills or knowledge. They attempt to understand more about the candidates themselves in terms of their character, personality, interests, and inclinations. A few common HR questions you may have come across are: ‘Why do you want this job’, ‘What are your strengths and weaknesses’, ‘Why should I select you’, etc.
What are you being tested upon?
Through HR questions, an interviewer essentially tries to identify if you are a good fit for the company. Among many things, they are judging you based on your soft skills, personality traits, and company fit factors. A few basic things an interviewer is trying to identify are: can you work with your team, can you handle difficult situations, how reliable you are, are you really interested in working with that company, what unique contribution do you bring to the table, and so on.
How to prepare for HR Questions:
Create a master list of HR Questions to answer. You will find plenty of such lists in your first Google search. One such source is the book, ’64 toughest HR questions’
Think through each of these questions and write down your main points/answers
You needn’t do this for all 50+ questions; you can club similar questions together
After framing your answers, make sure to get someone else's impression of them as a second opinion
Tips to keep in mind while framing HR answers:
Don’t copy cliche answers from the internet, write them on your own
Personalize each answer
Keep your answers brief and structured
Always think, "what is the interviewer looking for in a candidate?" and adapt your answers accordingly
Elaborating on the last point, think about what the key requirements for the job are, and the skills, qualities, and values the company is looking for.
Never underestimate the importance of HR questions in your interview. There are several candidates with excellent technical skills and resumes who get rejected due to poor performance in the HR section. Spend sufficient time on preparing for the same.
Here are some additional links that you may want to visit:
Further Reading:
How to build a professional CV to get shortlisted
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All the best!
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