Stage 2 interview is with an HR manager, what should I expect?

Question

Apologies if this is the wrong stackexchange to be asking on, its seems right to me.

I am currently going through a multi interview process for a junior level design and web development position, and have passed the first interview and technical assignment. The first interview was with the leader of the team I would be working in, full of task and skill relevant questions, but also had a couple of the more general questions in it.

The second interview will be with the HR manager. I'm assuming firstly that the questions will be more general, but should I expect duplicate questions from the previous interview? Should I change or go more in depth into my responses to the questions I may have answered previously?

What I'm wondering is if anyone has experience of a hiring process like this, is there anything different I should expect with an HR interviewer?

Answer 1

An interview with a HR manager will most likely focus less on the technical perspectives of interviewing, and more on the "soft skills", e.g propensity towards team work, feedback handling, general demeanor and such.

When answering questions (it could be some will be duplicated) keep in mind your audience. You're not talking to a tech person, so don't go into unnecessary detail in your answers. Don't assume a "you won't understand anyways" either, though. This is really important.

Answer 2

Multi stage interview is very common for large corporations. Usually, it starts with a phone screening and provided you pass that, you get to meet the hiring manager and one or more of his trusted employees to measure if you are up to par with what they are looking for. Then usually comes the HR interview but in some places, before the HR, you get to meet the big cheese (mainly your boss' boss and upward).

At HR interviews, technical question are kept to a minimum if any, as the interviewer doesn't know every aspect of technology that the company deals with. They are more interested in, why you are changing jobs, what positions you have held in the past, what your responsibilities were. If you are being interviewed for a supervisory position, they also try to understand your management techniques. It is mostly for catching the red flag the techies you interviewed missed. Also, since you are one step closer to being hired, they want to make sure you understand their compensation structure, code of conduct, in some places, the dress code and whatever else you might think as "small potatoes" but has an importance for that company.

Last but not the least, if you are being interviewed by HR, after a set of successful technical interviews, you are very close to getting a formal offer from this company, unless you blow in the HR interview. Congrats.