A Human Resources Assistant (HR Assistant) is responsible for clerical and administrative tasks to maintain the overall flow of HR department operations. They support the HR department and team by scheduling appointments, maintaining record-keeping systems, addressing employee inquiries and administering HR-related tests. Performing this role requires strong organizational and communication skills as well as the ability to multitask and handle confidential information.
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Communication
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Active Listening
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Confidentiality
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Organizational Skills
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Multitasking
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Conflict Management
How to effectively interview HR Assistants
While it might seem difficult to figure out whether a candidate will succeed as an HR Assistant in your company, a well-developed set of interview questions that tap into the core skills required to perform in a HR Assistant role will go a long way in helping you decide.
But where do you start? How do you develop a set of great interview questions?
The best interview questions come directly from a job analysis. A job analysis is an evidence-based method that focuses on assessing key features of a particular role. These features describe both the job itself (i.e., tasks, responsibilities, and performance objectives), and the characteristics required of someone to perform successfully in the job (e.g., knowledge, skills, and abilities). A job analysis forms the basis of many HR practices such as compensation, performance management, and - you guessed it - how to interview and hire candidates.
At Hireguide, we’ve done the job analysis work for you. We’ve used the method to identify a core set of skills associated with the HR Assistant role, and we’ve developed and validated a list of behavioral and situational questions with answer guides that tap directly into those core skills. And that’s not all. We’ve compiled these questions and created a HR Assistant Interview Template for you that integrates other interviewing best practices. Skills-based interviews will not only help you make higher quality and evidence-based hiring decisions, but research also shows they enhance fairness and reduce bias in your hiring process.
Example interview questions to ask
Question 1
What would you do if employees consistently submitted their timesheets late or with mistakes?
Answer Tips
- Understands the importance of having accurate information on file to run payroll
- Suggests various solutions (reminders, easy processes, automatic messages, etc.)
- Would involve other stakeholders to set up a policy/guidelines if necessary
- Discusses best practices, incentives and potential tools
Question 2
How do you make sure that the employee database is up-to-date and accurate?
Answer Tips
- Shares a systematic approach for managing information in the database
- Discusses specific steps such as methods for quality-checking data
- Involves others (implements self-service processes, sends updates, etc.)
- Discusses best practices or effective tools (e.g. software) to manage data
Question 3
Imagine the HR manager asks you to create a payroll report. At the same time, a hiring manager is asking you to schedule interviews for tomorrow, and candidates are calling requesting application updates. What do you do?
Answer Tips
- Proposes a prioritization strategy to manage the tasks
- Distinguishes between important and urgent tasks
- Would prioritize based on business impact, value, deadline, etc.
