2nd interview with HR

franco25

Hi I made it through the interview stage of the direct manager! Next I am to be interviewed by HR on there own - what to expect here?is this common in terms of HR being the second interview?

Denerick

HR will ask you general questions from your CV; they will try to probe you and find out what kind of person you are. Answer faithfully and don't attempt to be witty or humorous (HR types hate that) You won't get grilled on job specific stuff but do expect many situational type questions (ie, 'what would you do if x happened and y happened at the same time?')

Eoin

Denerick wrote: »

You won't get grilled on job specific stuff but do expect many situational type questions (ie, 'what would you do if x happened and y happened at the same time?')

You didn't mention what type of job it is, but what Denerick said above is along the lines of what to expect. More behavioural based questions than competency.

But it really depends on the job. To take IT support as an example; the hiring manager might grill you on your technical skills, and the HR person might ask you about your experience with presentations, writing reports etc - so there's a chance that it might be somewhat role related tool.

Hopefully it won't be 30 minutes of "tell me your three greatest weaknesses". (PS, don't say "I work too hard and I'm a perfectionist". That's more cringeworthy than the original question).

franco25 wrote:

is this common in terms of HR being the second interview?

I wouldn't have said so, but some companies like loads of hoops for candidates to jump through. Did you get an idea if there's a 3rd round after?

I'm always conscious that it might be awkward for candidates to attend multiple interviews, so I normally either interview with our HR person first, and my line manager after - or me first, and then HR and my manager do the 2nd round interview.

franco25

many thanks for the reply. No as far as I know this is the final interview!

mm_surf

Generally, there are two sections to the interview process for a lot of companies.

Part A - Technical ability - can the candidate do the job
Part B - "Fit" - does the employee "fit" the company in terms of behaviour, aspirations, ethics, etc.

Normally, these are first done at "getting the CVs" stage (i.e. HR give the hiring manager a condensed stack of CVs with all the "undesireables" put inthe "round file" first)
Hiring manager then gets to pick a number for interview.

Then the interviews.

You've been interviewed by the person you're going to be working for, so they're obviously happy with your ability to do the job.

Now HR are going to see if you "fit in" with the company way of doing things. No point in hiring a person who won't be happy in the role and going to leave after a while. This interview is as much in your interests as the company hiring you. Nothing more demoralising doing a job you love in a company you hate.

This is usually the stage where HR will ask you to do a medical or a personality test. Not all companies do this though. As for a personality test, don't worry about it - it's primarily for assessing how you interact with others, rather than seeing if you're psychotic!

Best of luck!