HR Assistant Interview Questions

What is an HR assistant?

Will you soon be interviewing for the position of human resources assistant? Knowing the typical interview questions by heart is the best approach to be ready for the big day. The human resources assistant position frequently demands entry-level candidates with strong interpersonal skills.

The ideal applicant is diplomatic, competent, and able to manage delicate circumstances with grace and discretion. It is important to be aware of the precise information, abilities, and competencies that applicants should exhibit whether you are interviewing for a position as an HR assistant or just getting ready for the interview.

Expect difficult questions about workplace human resources issues if you are an interviewee.

People who help out with HR and other administrative duties on a daily basis are known as human resources assistants. While also offering clerical support to other employees, these experts aid HR managers with tasks such as hiring new staff, collecting payments, and keeping records up to date.

They help the HR managers out with administrative chores like keeping track of staff changes, making onboarding schedules, writing performance reports, and handling communications for the HR department. On top of that, they back up any and all demands or inquiries pertaining to HR from outside sources.

Gross income for an HR assistant usually falls between $39,000 and $50,000 per year.

Qualifications for an HR assistant

Human resources assistants, who act as a liaison between managers and staff, need strong verbal and written communication abilities. They need to be able to multitask, adapt to fast-paced workplaces, and think conceptually. They also need to be extremely organized and have perfect time management abilities.

An HR assistant must possess the following essential skills:

• Degrees in Human Resources or an adjacent discipline.
• Experience in a comparable position for two years.
• Organized and detail-oriented.
• Have some background in labor law and employment equity rules.
• Overall knowledge of how payroll works.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities.
• Familiarity with HR best practices and duties.
• Competence in working under pressure and completing tasks within the time constraints.
• Strong computer abilities, including proficiency in Microsoft Office, email, and HR applications.

The HR assistant is responsible for a variety of tasks, including:

• Providing support for the HR department’s routine workload.
• Offering administrative assistance to the human resources division.
• Taking care of requests and problems from employees that have to do with HR.

Twenty most common interview questions for human resources assistants

You may be anxious about the interview questions when you receive an invitation to interview for the position of human resources assistant. What follows is a list of possible questions and some guidance on how to answer them.

Job-related inquiries

Your familiarity with the HR assistant position will be tested by these questions. In addition, this is a chance for the interview panel to see how well you’ve studied up on the company and the position.

1. Could you please tell me the HR training that you have completed?

Answering this question well will allow you to highlight your suitability for the position. Get back to the training you completed recently. Emphasize your relevant training in human resources if you do not possess a degree in the field. It’s also a good idea to let the panel know about any HR-related conferences or seminars you’ve gone to and how they boosted your knowledge.

2. For what reasons does this position appeal to you?

If you want to work for a company, show them that you can help them grow.  They will ask you this question to see if you are interested in the HR assistant job, if you are a good fit for the job, and if you can add value to the company. Give a brief summary of your motivations and reasons for applying for the position in your response to the question. Pay more attention to the work than the company in this question because it assesses your capacity to perform the tasks and obligations of the human resources assistant position.

3. Tell me why you’d be a good fit as an HR assistant.

The interview panel is trying to find out what makes you stand out from the other candidates when they ask this question. Focus on what you’re good at and what you’re competent at. Furthermore, it would be beneficial to emphasize your personality traits, areas of competence, work experience, and level of excitement while applying to the HR department of the company.

4. Could you tell me more about our company and the HR department?

This inquiry is to gauge your level of enthusiasm for the position of HR assistant. You demonstrate enthusiasm for the position by learning as much as possible about the company and its HR department. Talking about what you learned demonstrates that you have a good grasp of the company and the duties and obligations of the job on a daily basis. Stay away from anything that could bring shame on the company and concentrate on its achievements and good things to offer.

5. Can you tell me what an HR assistant does?

Showing that you can handle the duties of an HR assistant is a prerequisite if you want to land the job. Outline your approach to doing essential HR functions such as processing payroll, hiring new staff, keeping records up to date, and communicating with colleagues in the field.

6. What were your responsibilities in your previous position?

The hiring committee is interested in hearing about any relevant work experience you may have for the HR assistant position. Therefore, during the interview, they will inquire as to your prior job experience and how it is relevant to the position for which you are being considered.

Please emphasize the results you achieved when serving in a previous capacity. You shouldn’t be bashful about telling the panel that anything is out of your league; doing so will demonstrate your eagerness to learn.

7. Do you anticipate any difficulties in your new position?

There will be bumps on the road as you adjust to your new position, and the interviewers will be interested in hearing about those. To make your response relevant to the HR assistant position, think about your skills and experiences.

If you’re coming from a smaller company, you may mention that you’re prepared to face some hurdles when you join a larger company with a more diverse staff. Discuss the difficulties you overcame in your prior position and how those lessons will serve you well in your new one.

8. Describe the pinnacle of your professional success.

Every human resources professional can look back on a professional accomplishment with pride. The interviewers are looking to employ people who will be valuable assets to the company, so they will likely ask questions about that. Take the hypothetical example of your former employer’s payroll system that you helped simplify. Feel free to bring it up.

You could also mention your mistakes and how you improved after them.

Questions of a general nature

The purpose of these questions is to learn more about you as an individual, rather than your qualifications for the position for which you are seeking.

9. Briefly describe yourself.

This is the standard way that most interviews begin. Make a good first impression by providing a synopsis of your background, schooling, and professional experience. Don’t go into too much detail, because the people you’re interviewing will ask you to explain things more when they need it.

10. How much do you hope to earn?

Bring a market-related, skill-level-adjusted salary estimate to your interview by researching comparable positions on sites like Glassdoor and Payscale.

11. Tell me where you want to be in five years.

You, as an HR professional, surely grasp the value of a long tenure in one’s position. Your immediate and distant career objectives will likely come up in the interview.

If you want to wow the interviewers and land the job, you need to demonstrate that you’re committed to your career and have a plan for achieving where you want to go. Consider the steps you’ll need to take to reach the positions you’re interested in in the coming years.

12. What would your former coworkers say about you?

In response to this question, go back on your work history and describe the qualities that your former coworkers would highlight if they were to ask them to describe you. Select adjectives that best describe your work ethic and personality, as the purpose of the application is to reveal your value to the company. Furthermore, highlight your exceptional soft abilities that set you apart from the competition.

Questions about competence

The purpose of the interview’s competency-level questions is to gauge your thought process. The questions see how well you can communicate, lead, manage, take risks, make decisions, be flexible, and work with others. Among them are:

13. Do you have any knowledge about labor laws?

Human resources assistants must to have a solid grasp of both federal and state labor regulations. You should demonstrate a readiness to remain informed of the rules and regulations, as the laws are subject to frequent modification.

The interviewers will see this as evidence that you may counsel the company on labor law issues if you demonstrate this competency.

14. Can you tell me about your background working with HRIS, or human resource information systems?

Proving familiarity with the HRIS is a prerequisite for HR professionals. You can anticipate inquiries regarding your background and the criteria you would use to select the most suitable HRIS for your company. Perhaps you should bring up HRIS software that might be useful to the company as well.

15. If hired, what human resources abilities do you think will be most useful to you?

This question assesses your qualifications for the human resources position you are interviewing for. To provide a satisfactory response, highlight the skills and experiences that are relevant to the position you are applying for. To add even more value to the company, think about what human resources skills you’ll need to acquire. Human resources is a dynamic discipline that requires more versatile skill sets than in the past.

16. When working under pressure, how do you react?

Being an HR assistant isn’t always easy; there are a lot of deadlines and a lot of tasks to do. When working under pressure, how do you react? Your capacity to demonstrate resilience in the face of both predictable and unforeseen challenges is indicative of your potential success in the position. If you want to impress the interviewers with your response to the question “how do you operate under pressure?” you need to demonstrate that you can successfully navigate any unexpected challenges that may arise in your career or personal life.

Situational and behavioral questions 

The capacity to remain calm and collected under pressure is an absolute must for an HR assistant. Problems like sexual harassment and racism will frequently come up for you to tackle.  This is why the interview panel might bring up the following behavioral questions:

17. Explain your approach to dealing with an employee accusation of sexual harassment.

You need to demonstrate during the interview that you can handle sexual harassment accusations, since you will be the initial point of contact between workers and HR managers. Outline the procedures for an HR inquiry and decide who will be in charge of handling the complaint.

18. What are your thoughts on the best ways to recruit applicants from underrepresented groups?

The purpose of this question is to gauge your familiarity with affirmative action and similar rules and practices. Share your story of how you overcame obstacles to bring in applicants from underrepresented groups.

19. Please describe an experience in which you had to work together with colleagues who were difficult to get along with.

This is a test of your capacity to collaborate with people from different backgrounds. You might respond by saying that you made an effort to understand the challenging coworkers on a personal level.

20. Let’s pretend that your team’s mission is to boost low employee engagement. Where would you begin?

This question gives you a chance to show how good you are at analyzing things. Talk about the measurements you would use to gauge employee engagement in order to figure out why it’s so low. Outline the steps you would take to assess and boost employee engagement.

Most important things to remember

The only thing standing between you and that ideal job is an interview. You can’t predict the exact questions an HR assistant interviewer will ask, but you can get a head start by studying up on typical interview questions. Be sure to make a list of questions you would like to ask the interviewer in order to gain a better understanding of the position.