Questions To Consider Asking In A HR Interview

The HR market in Ireland is experiencing increased growth and movement and competition for top talent is still as fierce as ever. The HR Team in Sigmar have compiled a list of themes and questions relating to them that we have seen coming up in HR interviews over the past year which you may find useful.

Culture

It’s the hot topic on every employer’s lips. Everyone’s company has a unique culture and every company wants theirs to be a point of differentiation in the market. Culture comes from everyone in an organisation but generally it comes down to HR to communicate and drive the company’s strategy around culture.

Here are some of the questions to consider:

• How do you ensure local and international new hires will be a good cultural fit in your organisation?

• What traits do you feel would suit your organisation the best and why?

• What are 3 initiatives you have created to improve employee experience and togetherness?

Technology

This year saw a huge increase in the emphasis on big data and analytics to understand employee interactions and productivity. HR teams can now use technology to identify areas for improvement and for streamlining workflows which can be used for management reporting, performance reviews and identifying inefficiencies.

Asking questions like these below can help identify how future focused candidates are:

• What improvements have you seen from using HR data and analytics in your company?
• How has HR data and analytics affected HR strategy in your current organisation?
• How has HR software influenced how HR communicates rewards and benefits information?

Attraction and Retention

As the market continues to grow, competition for talent is becoming more and more complex. Once the recruitment process is complete Employee Engagement begins and will be very much the focus of many MNC and SME companies in 2016.

Questions to consider for interviews:

• What innovative or creative talent acquisition processes have you developed and what were the results?
• What methods have you put in place to engage a very diverse workforce including millennials and older generations on a local and global scale?
• What unique benefit offerings have you introduced to your company?

Performance Management (HPWOs)

Having a Performance Management process in place is key to the overall strategy of the company. It increases employee satisfaction and is a predictor of the success of future operational goals. As HR in most cases is aligned with the overall corporate strategy, this is a critical function to get right. That being said it is an evolving process with more companies looking at different ways of monitoring performance.

• What is your idea of an ideal Performance Management process for a large global MNC?
• Describe if you ever reviewed or implemented a cloud based solution for Performance Management? What were the pros and cons?
• What has typically been the biggest barriers to building a collaborative culture that supports engagement, satisfaction and performance to ensure sustainable growth?

Market Knowledge

Generally candidates will always have questions relating to Stakeholder Management, Cost Savings and how you would see their role developing over the first 3, 6 and 12 months in the job. In addition to this these are a couple of typical questions we are seeing being asked at all levels:

• What type of candidates do you feel will be most sought after over the next 3 years and how would you attract them?
• What financial and non-financial rewards do you see as the most valuable in the market at the moment and why?
• What is your thoughts and experience on recruiting through Social Media?