Commonly asked Questions in HR Interviews

1. Please tell us something about yourself.

Tips to answer:

- Be very thorough and be ready to speak for atleast 3mins.

- Talk about your Internships & Projects
- Talk about unique hobbies, don’t talk if the hobbies are very general
- Talk about strengths, usually with example
- Don’t talk about what is already present in your resume, your parents & family

2. Please describe your strengths & weakness

Tips to answer:

- You need not have a list of strengths or weakness

- Always back with strong & descriptive examples
- Talking about weakness is not bad as long as you acknowledge & start working
on it

3. Where do you see yourself in the next 2/5 years?

Tips to answer:

- When the duration is 2 years or any short term period, try to be as specific as
possible
- In short term plans, it is preferable to talk about how the role at the organization
you are interviewing for is going to transpire
- In long term/ 5 years plan, you can be a bit more general about the answer and
talk about how the current role is going to help you achieve that
- It is not wrong to talk about higher education plans, infact they project your
ambition, clarity to the interviewer but beware of not coming across as someone
who is not going to stay at the organization for very long

4. Why should we hire you?

Tips to answer:

- Another way of asking, “What are your strengths?” question

- Back your strengths with strong & descriptive example
- Be a bit more specific about how your strengths are going to help you in the role
you are interviewing for

5. Why is your academic so erratic?

Tips to answer:

- The interviewer is testing your self-awareness

 Commonly asked Questions in HR Interviews
- List down why your academic record is erratic and how you are ensuring that
you won’t repeat the same mistakes

6. You are not from IT, then why are you applying for IT job?

Tips to answer:

- Most IT/ITES companies have companies from different engineering streams as

their clients and this is where your engineering knowledge will help you
- Browse through clientele of the company you are interviewing for and talk about
some companies which are in engineering streams that you belong to

7. Have you been in any challenging situation? How did you get out of it?

Tips to answer:

- Unless you have done something really extraordinary during your college fests/
internal events, don’t mention them as a part of challenging situation
- Use the initial 20-30secs to setup the context, then explain the solution with
which of your character strengths help you wade this challenge successfully
- Additionally, talk about what you could have done better and lessons learnt
based on that experience

8. Why do you want to join us?

Tips to answer:

- Interviewer is testing how much you know about the company

- Talk about positive points like size, revenue
- Check if there are any recent positive news about the company
- Talk to your seniors about the culture in the company and use them in your
answer

9. Questions on books/hobbies/extra-curricular activities

Tips to answer:

- It is good to have some good hobbies like reading books or being interested in
new digital developments, but don’t make them up
- Very general activities like: surfing the web don’t count as hobbies
- With whatever hobbies you have, try to have an in-depth knowledge about it.
 Commonly asked Questions in HR Interviews
10. Any questions for the HR?

Tips to answer:

- This question is to check seriousness of the candidate towards the company &
Job
- Do the research about the company & job role, naturally you will have some good
doubts that could leave a good impression on the HR