Interview Skills as a Part of Getting a Human Resource Management Certificate

A human resource management certificate is a key certification for the modern day HR practitioner.  It gives the employer an assurance that their employee has the mastery of the laws and regulations that are needed in their day to day operations.  One of the skills that the certificate holder has is the ability to conduct positive and relevant interviews.

There are different kinds of interviews.  The behavioral interview focuses on the behavior of the candidate in past situations that is relevant to the position they are applying for.  There is also what we call the stress interview, where the line of questioning places high pressure on the candidate to see how they will respond.  These two kinds of interview should show the interviewer how a person would react to a certain situation that would come up when they are performing the responsibilities of the position they are applying for.  An interview can be done as a group or one on one.

The questions should be relevant to the position being applied for.  HR practitioners who have a human resource management certificate are well trained to ask the right questions at the right time.  There should be different lines of questioning for people who have work experience versus those who are fresh graduates. It’s important to ask for the work history of an experienced interviewee, as we as discussing with them certain situations they have been in, the result, and what they did to achieve that certain result.  If interviewing a fresh graduate, it’s vital to probe deeply; they have no previous work experience, and their academic history would most of the time be irrelevant.  It would be better to ask them behavioral questions to see what kind of character they would bring in to the company.  Also ask questions that would tell if they have researched about the company and its probable competitors.