Employees are the assets of every business organization and the success or failure of every company depends entirely upon the dedication, enthusiasm, and hard work of its workers. Thus, it is the very reason why every company wants its employees to be satisfied at its workplace. It won’t be wrong to say that the employees of a company hold a position of relevance that is synonymous with the customers of the company. Hence, business organizations hire for a special position known as Employee Relation Specialist, whose primary role is to resolve the queries and grievances of the employees so that they remain content and dedicated towards their duties.
This is a special position and people working at this level fetch lucrative salaries and incentives. The interview process is quite tricky and comprises a lot of in-depth questions. Thus, the best way to prepare for it is by reading lots of frequently asked interview questions. Below is a set of 21 best questions that are asked repeatedly in the interview session of this position.
21 Best Interview Questions To Read
1. Employees Misinterpret Constructive Criticisms. How Do You React In Such A Situation?
Constructive criticisms refer to the act of extending feedbacks and guidance to the employees so as to improve their performances. These criticisms are misinterpreted by the employees and they feel offended. Your interviewer wants to know, how you will react in such a situation.
Sample Answer
Sir, it is true that feedbacks are perceived in the wrong way by the employees and they tend to get offended after receiving them. These criticisms hurt their ego and sentiments and they feel that their intelligence is being undermined. I always take regular counseling sessions to tackle such issues and strive to create an atmosphere that is friendly and stress-free.
2. How Can The Employees Be Kept Motivated At Their Workplace?
Employee motivation is crucial to achieving overall economic benefits.
Sample Answer
Sir, in my humble opinion, money and recognition are the two primary items that can keep every human being motivated and committed towards their workplace. I always lay stress on extending incentives and monetary benefits to the employees. In addition to this, good performances must always be appreciated and the employees must be recognized.
3. How Do You Resolve Issues Related To Harassment At Workplace?
Harassments at the workplace, related to bullying, sexual, teasing, leg-pulling, etc. are quite common and must be resolved with great caution and interest. Through this question and interviewer wants to know how you resolve these issues.
Sample Answer
Sir, harassment at workplaces is a mess. Be it of any type and nature, it destroys the confidence level of employees and severely affects their performance. I am [retty serious in regards to these issues and always resolve them by investigating them thoroughly. Whenever I receive such a claim, I personally monitor the complaint and set up a committee to look into the matter. Post this, appropriate actions are taken.
4. How Do You Investigate A Complaint?
Employee relations managers have to thoroughly investigate a complaint before taking any adverse action against the accused. Through this question, an interviewer wants to check your practical working procedures.
Sample Answer
Sir, in order to investigate a complaint, I, first of all, try to connect the dots by reading and understanding the complaint made comprehensively. The complaints contain the manner in which the unethical activity happened. I refer to it and take interrogating interviews of the accused as well as the complainant. This gives me a fair idea of the matter. I give a resolution, if it is within my powers, or else I forward the complaint to my seniors.
5. What Are The Common Reasons That Make Employees Discontent?
Through this question, an interviewer wants to know whether or not you understand the psychology of the employees.
Sample Answer
Sir, in my opinion, the lack of a conducive working environment, low pay, and non-stringent harassment policies make the lives of employees tough and difficult at their workplaces. This makes them discontent and they think of migrating.
6. Describe A Time When You Fired An Employee?
It is common for the relations manager to recommend the removal of an employee. Through this question, an interviewer wants to know about your practical experience in this regard.
Sample Answer
Sir, it was during my previous tenure, that I fired an employee who used to constantly misbehave with his female colleagues. My previous company followed a zero-tolerance policy and after giving him two strict warnings, I removed him from his position.
7. How Open Are Your In Accepting Feedbacks From The Management?
Employee relations manager is an authoritative position and you will certainly be getting a lot of feedback and suggestions from your seniors. Answer this question positively.
Sample Answer
Sir, I am a committed and optimistic individual who always prefers to improve my performance at the workplace. I am very open to accepting all the suggestions, guidance, and criticisms that come my way. I use all the negative feedbacks to find my mistakes and recognize my weaknesses.
8. What Can You Offer Us That Someone Else Cannot?
This is a common interview question that requires you to share your unique qualities and propositions.
Sample Answer
Sir, I believe I am an excellent decision-maker and have the ability to quickly analyze all the facts and details. Post this, I always critically examine the pointers and devise solutions that are amicable and acceptable.
9. Name The Three Best Employee Grievance Handling Software Existing In The Market.
That time is gone when employees used to give complaints on paper. Nowadays, all the complaints and grievances are handled using specialized computer software.
Sample Answer
Sure, sir, These are:
- Freshdesk
- JIRA Service Management
- Zoho Desk
10. Share About A Time When You Took A Tough Decision On Your Own, Without Any Guidance.
This is a situation-based interview question that analyzes your behavior and approach.
Sample Answer
Sir, working for business organizations is tough and challenging. You will certainly face a few issues in which you will be alone and have to take a solo decision. This happened in my previous tenure when I was supposed to handle an employee query in regards to irregular promotion. The complainant was dissatisfied as he felt, he rightly deserved the promotion and not his colleague. He wanted to resign and expose our trade secrets. I counseled him but to no avail. Then, I initiated legal action against him, which was my sole decision.
11. Describe Your Best Boss and Worst Boss.
This is a tricky interview question. In response to this question, you have to share the reasons or the basis using which you segregate your bosses into good and bad. Be specific and genuine. Also, try not to exaggerate.
12. Maintaining “Quality” In Processes Is Our Number One Priority. How Do You Interpret The Term “Quality”?
This is a word-based interview question in which you are required to interpret the term “quality”. There can be several versions of interpretation of this term. Every person is different from one another and thinks of “quality” from varying perspectives. Through this question, an interviewer wants to know about your own version of the interpretation of this term. “Quality” is achieved when employees are able to deliver a performance that satisfies the customers and is as per the established standards.
13. Through This Job, You Will Certainly Be Working At A Crucial Position. How Do You Manage Your Failure?
Failure is quite common in our lives and not everybody could succeed in every moment. Yet, we fail to cope with failure, which impacts our overall performance at our workplace. Thus, an interviewer is always interested in knowing the various strategies and techniques that you adopt to manage your failure.
14. What Is Your Dream Job?
You might be having a dream to work with your favorite football team as their manager, or maybe you want to be a personal assistant to your favorite celebrity. However, replying in such a way would not help you out in this scenario. Your answer must strictly relate to the corporate world and you must stick to the positive points of the organization for which you are giving an interview. For example, if your organization offers you job security, you can always say that you prefer to work in a job that does not fire its employees unnecessarily.
15. What Motivates You To Work With Us?
We all are motivated by a few factors that prompt and stimulate us to work hard and achieve our goals and objectives in a time-bound manner. These factors are quite personal to us and are mostly influenced by the personal conditions, financial situations, and circumstances of an individual. An interviewer is always interested in knowing these factors for the purposes of personality evaluation and assessment.
16. How Your Colleagues Define Your Overall Personality?
We all work at several business organizations and get to meet different co-workers. We spend at least 2,160 hours in a year with them (do your own math) which is quite a huge number. This enables them to understand our personality, views, attitude, and approach. Through this question, an interviewer wants to know the opinion that they hold in your respect. Talk with a few of your colleagues and note down their responses. Refine your noting and prepare a balanced answer for this question.
17. As An Employee Relations Manager, You Got To Resolve Issues and Grievances. How Do You Manage Your Stress Levels?
Stress is regarded as the common bottleneck which hampers the overall functioning and productivity of an employee. Thus, an interviewer is always interested in understanding the various techniques that you might have adopted to manage your stress levels. Usually, meditation, deep breathing exercises, and positive pep talk are used by the managers to alleviate their stress levels.
18. What Are Your Salary Expectations?
There is nothing technical in this interview question, yet this question has the ability to reduce your chances of selection. Thus, refrain from quoting any random salary figure and try to exhaustively research before reaching any conclusion. Conduct deep scrutiny of the industry to which you belong and note down the salaries offered to similar professionals. Calculate a mean salary and quote a salary figure in this range with a maximum deviation of 12-15%.
19. The Role Of An Employee Relations Manager Is Multi-tasking. How Do You Prioritize?
It is common for business organizations to assign several business tasks in a day. Through this question, an interviewer wants to know about your prioritization technique using which you rank and arrange your tasks in a meaningful order. This order could be anything. You might prefer to arrange your tasks on the basis of the difficulty level, yield generated, or maybe on the basis of time consumption. Whatever it is, just share it with your interviewer.
20. Why You Chose Us?
Interviewers know that candidates apply to several job openings simultaneously so as to increase their selection chances. Hence, through this question, your level of commitment and seriousness towards the business organization is checked. The official website of the company is the best way to prepare for this question. You are requested to note down the historical facts, accomplishments, and milestones of the company from its website. Couple your notes with your personal interests in the company and draft a perfect answer.
21. Do You Have Any Questions For Us?
This is the last question of every interview session. After this question, your opportunity has ended and you can now go home. However, you will do this only after attempting this question wholeheartedly. Through this question, an interviewer wants to know about the apprehensions and doubts that you might have in regards to the business organization, its working culture, work ethics, etc. As an ideal response, you must always ask a few relevant counter-questions based on the lines of model questions mentioned below:
Model Questions
- What are the various work timings that are adopted by the company in different shifts?
- Please share a list of all the incentives and allowances that the company offers to its employees.
- Is it the policy of the company to offer paid leaves to its employees, especially during times of medical emergencies?
Download the list of questions in .PDF format, to practice with them later, or to use them on your interview template (for Employee Relations Specialist interviews):
References
- http://103.38.12.142:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/471/1/HRAN_692j.pdf
- https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wk/acm/2020/00000096/00000008/art00042
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