Why do you think you qualify for a human resource executive’s/manager’ position?
While asking this the interviewer wants to see, how do you identify yourself with the job role. Relate your educational qualification, work experience and personal qualities with the role to answer this question.
A possible answer could be, the role of a human resource manager needs the person to 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 good insight into the rules and regulations an HR manager has to keep in mind while operating.www.iibmindia.in
What are your strengths and weaknesses as HR professional?
You may find this question asked in different forms during the interview. The purpose of 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 HR 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 extra qualification like the knowledge of a software useful in handling the job, you can discuss that also during the interview.
Why did you choose HR as your career?
While answering this question, don’t simply say that I love to work with people and that is the reason I am into HR. This is the most common answer and moreover something which makes the interviewer burst into laughter. This answer easily makes them understand that you are saying this just to get the job.
A better way would be to identify some work areas that an HR manager has to perform in his daily routine and relate them to your interest. A possible answer could be, I liked to be 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.
What is the difference between Personnel Management and HRM?
Usually these two terms are used interchangeably but there does lie a difference between the two.
– Personnel management is reactive in nature and includes administrative tasks while HRM is proactive in nature and requires continuous development in policies and functions of the organization for a better tomorrow.
– Personnel management is more of an independent task than HRM which needs to involve the managers of all departments for developing a better team.
– Personnel management believes that satisfied employees yield better performance while HRM believes that a good performance provides satisfaction to employees.
– HRM works around developing strategies to improve the performance of employees. Personnel management works around motivating employees with compensation, bonuses, rewards etc.
– Actually Personnel management can be considered as a subset of HRM.
Here you have to bear in mind that if you are offered the position of a Personnel Manager, you may be required to perform HRM functions and vice versa.
