How to Prepare for HR Interviews

Good academic records and sound technical knowledge alone are not sufficient to guarantee you a Job. Every company conducts an HR interview round to judge your personality, your strengths, your weaknesses, your capability to handle the role, to check your background, and to understand if you’re the right fit for this job. The HR round is generally the last round in the recruitment process of any company.

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Especially if you are preparing for IT companies or mass recruiters like TCS, CTS, Infosys, Wipro, Accenture etc. then you must be well aware of the importance of HR interview rounds in these companies. The HR rounds in these companies is an elimination round and they reject many candidates based on their performance during the HR interview rounds.

Tips Before Interview Preparation

All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.

— Earl Nightingale

An efficient plan always comes out to be helpful to reach a destination. Below are some of the tips that you should keep in mind if you are preparing for an HR interview:

• Understand the Job position you are applying for. Gather every possible detail about the job position you are applying for like, the skill set required for the particular job, educational qualifications etc.
• Match the requirement of the company to your resume and profile. Try to match the requirement of the job opening to your resume and the profiles you are sharing with the recruiter. This will surely increase your chances of getting hired if you can justify your knowledge of the skills that match with the company’s requirement.
• Go through your resume and make sure that you have listed all important detail about you and the details listed by you is true as per your knowledge. Prepare yourself to answer any possible question that can be asked on the basis of your resume.
• Research about the company like their achievements, tech stack they are working on, work-life balance etc.
• Prepare yourself mentally by asking questions to yourself.

Tips for the Interview Day

There is not much to be discussed in this section but still, precaution is always better so we will discuss a few points that are needed to be taken care of during an interview.

• Do not try to fake yourself. This is the first and the foremost thing that is needed to be taken care of. Do not bluff in front of the HR manager, be yourself.
• Be truthful about anything you are speaking about and try to avoid giving irrelevant answers.
• Dress comfortably. Wear whatever you are comfortable with but make sure to keep it as simple as possible with the minimum number of accessories.
• First Job interview is one of the most important days of everyone’s life, so make sure to reach the venue on time.
• Try to be interactive with the HR manager. Do not sound dull. Always wear a smile on your face.

Questions you can expect in an HR interview

We have done some research and prepared a set of questions that are most commonly asked in HR interviews. If you are preparing for HR interviews, you can expect some questions from the below list during the interview:

1. Introduce Yourself or Tell me about yourself. This is the very first question and will be surely asked in every interview rounds. The best way of answering this question is to tell the interviewer about your interests, skill sets, qualifications, achievements etc. Try to avoid telling things that are already mentioned in your resume and also make sure not to sound like you have mugged this answer.
2. What are your strengths and weaknesses? This is one of the most commonly asked questions in an HR interview. Be honest while answering this question. Do not hesitate to mention your strengths but try to keep the count to 3-4 only by picking up the main strength that will help you in this job. While mentioning weaknesses, try to present it as a strength or get prepared for the answer to “How do you prepare to overcome this weakness?”.
3. Why should you be hired? The best way to answer this question is to present your skills to the interviewer and how are you planning to use it for the growth of the company.
4. How will you manage work pressure? Try to answer this question by giving examples of your previous experiences. Tell him/her about a situation in your life so far where you have been under pressure and still you managed to complete the task within deadline.
5. Why do you want to join us? This question will reflect the amount of research you have done about the company. You can mention the achievements of the company, work culture, behavior with employees, work-life balance and other positive things about the company.
6. What is your salary expectation? This can be a tricky question. If you are a fresher, never ever quote the exact amount that you want on your offer letter. You may ask him/her about the hike that the company generally offers to the employees but do not quote the amount.
7. Are you comfortable with rotational shifts? This is a most commonly asked question in the interviews of IT companies like TCS, CTS, Wipro, Infosys etc. Answering this question with a “Yes” will surely increase your chances of getting the job but it is recommended to say Yes only if you are actually comfortable with rotational shifts.
8. Why are you looking for a Job change? This is a common question if you are an experienced professional and looking for a change. The best way to answer this question is to say that, You are changing your current job for growth. Make sure that you not talk negatively about or criticize the company you are currently working in.