HR Generalist

This interview question assesses general management ability. It tells you whether your HR manager candidate can become an asset to your business or whether they are someone who just manages their daily tasks.

A candidate that has an appreciation and understanding of how HR can contribute to achieving business goals is one that can impact the business in a positive way.

You will want to find a candidate that knows the expectations of their role and who can establish their business priorities within that role. You will want them to be capable of making the business case for the people-related initiatives they want to pursue. And you will want them to know how their day-to-day work contributes to the overall goals of the business.

Using progressive discipline can help you get employees back on track. Done right, progressive discipline can:

☛ allow managers to intervene and correct employee behavior at the first sign of trouble

☛ enhance communication between managers and employees

☛ help managers achieve higher performance and productivity from their employees

☛ improve employee morale and retention by demonstrating that there are rewards for good performance and consequences for poor performance

☛ avoid expensive replacement costs

☛ ensure consistency and fairness in dealing with employee problems, and

☛ lay the groundwork for fair, legally defensible employment termination for employees who cannot or will not improve.

Progressive discipline also helps you avoid the consequences of allowing workplace problems to continue unchecked. If you don't intervene, the employee may not know that his or her behavior or actions are unacceptable. Not only will you have lost an opportunity to help the employee improve, but your company will continue to suffer the consequences of the employee's problem, which could result in reduced productivity and profits, quality control problems, lost opportunities or customers, low employee morale, and high turnover.

Motivation in simple words may be understood as the set of forces that cause people to behave in certain ways. It is a process that starts with a physiological deficiency or need that activities behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or an incentive.

The concept of motivation occupies a central place in the discipline of Organizational Behaviour. It is a concept, which has received the maximum attention from the academicians and researchers alike. Since a motivated employee is highly productive and highly quality oriented, the managers are also interested the concept of motivation.

Most people understand the concept of intrinsic satisfaction or intrinsic motivation, i.e. when an activity is satisfying or pleasurable in and of itself. Naturally, these activities are things we like and want to do. For most of us, intrinsically enjoyable activities are things like eating, resting, laughing, playing games, winning, creating, seeing and hearing beautiful things and people, being held lovingly, having sex, and so on. To do these things we don't need to be paid, applauded, cheered, thanked, respected, or anything--commonly we do them for the good feelings we automatically and naturally get from the activity. Intrinsic rewards also involve pleasurable internal feelings or thoughts, like feeling proud or having a sense of mastery following studying hard and succeeding in a class.

Many, maybe most, activities are not intrinsically satisfying enough to get most of us to do them consistently, so extrinsic motivation needs to be applied in the form of rewards (positive reinforcements), incentives, or as a way to avoid some unpleasant condition ("negative reinforcement" or punishment). Examples: You work doing an ordinary job for pay. You study for good grades or to avoid failing or to prepare for a good future. You do housework to get a clean, organized house and/or a spouse's appreciation or to avoid her/his disapproval. A teenager comes home from a date on time in order to avoid being grounded. These are all activities that are commonly sustained by external pay offs, not because you love working, studying, cleaning, and coming home early.

☛ How would you ensure a new employee is best inducted into the business?

☛ Which employee benefits do you find drive the highest employee motivation / satisfaction / retention / engagement?

☛ What do you consider to be the most successful recruitment strategies?

☛ Which personal development strategies do you find the most successful?

☛ How would you go about resolving a conflict between an employee and their manager?

☛ What can you do when an employee doesn’t want to develop?

☛ What processes or methods would you follow to deliver bad news to staff?

☛ How can you make negative staff more positive?

☛ How would you influence employee retention?

☛ How can you best align performance management with business strategy?

☛ Which aspects of HR do you enjoy the most / least?

☛ What has been your most significant contribution in an HR role?

☛ How can you best measure the success of HR? What KPIs have you found useful?

☛ How would you determine the priorities of your role?

☛ What process would you follow in addressing an employee grievance?

☛ How has your work experience and training prepared you for this position?

☛ What factors do you consider before drafting any new HR policy?

☛ How would you implement a new HR policy?

☛ What HR tools do you prefer? Can you recommend one system per function for us?

☛ What’s your approach to putting together benefits packages?

☛ How do you define company culture? How do you contribute to nurturing a positive company culture?

☛ Describe a time you worked on a challenging recruitment effort. How did you overcome it?

☛ Describe a time you made a misstep that resulted in regulatory issues. How did you handle it?

☛ An employee submits a sexual harassment complaint. What steps would you take to look into it?

☛ How do you stay current and ensure compliance with national regulatory laws?

☛ What’s your opinion on 360 degree performance reviews?

☛ What steps would you take to terminate an employee?

☛ Have you ever encountered a conflict of interest at work? How did you handle it?

☛ What’s your impression of our employer brand? How would you improve it?