When you’re interviewing for positions in your human resources department like HR Assistant, it’s particularly important to be able to assess all candidates using the same data, criteria, (or scoring). You want to create a consistent recruiting experience that allows you to select the best candidate for the role of HR Assistant. This is where the power of structured interviews come in to play. In a structured interview, a candidate’s interviews questions are pre-determined in advance for consistency. In unstructured interviews, the questions are not set in advance or may come from a loose set of notes from a hiring manager not to mention legal risks employer like  may encounter including discrimination claims for organizing interviews in an unstructured way.

How to Interview and Select an HR Assistant

Based on the qualifications you’re looking for, your HR Assistant interview questions should be open-ended but also structured so that candidates may provide specific information that will distinguish them from the other candidates you’re interviewing for the position. Asking the right questions during the interview is crucial to selecting the right candidates to hire. You want to make sure they are a good fit for the position, meet requirements and also will mesh with the rest of your team and colleagues.

The job title and role of Human Resources Assistant role is very similar to an HR Coordinator position. What the job entails can mean many different things depending on the size of your company and the structure of your HR department. The HR Assistant will typically work on many administrative duties for the human resources department of an organization and assist HR managers with such a wide variety of tasks that larger HR departments often have multiple employees in this role.

When selecting candidates to interview, I recommend speaking with candidates first by phone for a short phone interview and then narrowing the field to the top 3-5 candidates to bring into an in person interview.

Interview Questions to Ask Human Resources Assistant Candidates 

Below are a list of Interview questions for Human Resources Assistant to get you started. You can access our downloadable resource called  for more interview tips and downloadable interview forms to use during the hiring process.

1) What is your approach to problem-solving? Give an example of where your approach has been effective.

2) Describe how you like to be managed, and the best relationship you’ve had with a previous boss.

3) Describe an ideal work environment or “the perfect job.”

4) What would you have liked to do more of in your last position? What held you back?

5) What experience do you have with interpreting policy and disseminating guidelines and developing procedures for others?

6) Describe your experience working with highly confidential information. How would you handle an employee who requests “confidential” information from you?

7) What skill set do you think you would bring to this position?

8) Tell us a bit about your work background, and then give us a description of how you think it relates to our current HR Assistant job opening.

9) Describe a process or system that you improved so internal customers/employees would be better served.

10) After learning about this opportunity, what made you take the next step and apply for the job?

Once the interviews for the job are completed, it’s up to you and your team to decide on which of your top prospects is the one that you are going to offer the job. The key when interviewing and selecting HR Assistant candidates is to be sure of the job requirements and most important skills and abilities to ensure you are selecting the most qualified and capable person for the human resources assistant job you have an opening for.

Grab our downloadable HR Assistant Interview Guide along with a handful of other helpful human resources interview questions guides to help staff up your HR team.