Talent Manager Interview Questions

Talent Manager

Talent management is a key HR process, It refers to organization's commitment to recruit, hire, retain, and develop the most talented and superior employees. We have list down some important Interview questions for you. Do check out them before you next job interview.

Q.2 Define the risk that Talent Management faces.

Talent management addresses two types of risks:

1. “My star employees abandon me” This is where they receive or even proactively seek job offers from other organizations, and when they find an appropriate offer they leave. There is also the event of emotional desertion in the workplace, where the employee has no plans to leave. In this case, the organization should manage the talent, that is, validate what motivates employees, what is important to them, and what gaps must be filled.

2. “the empty bench,” This can be defined as the insufficient successors to key positions in the organization, where an employee quits or is promoted to another job. But there is no one to fill his place. Even if it seems that there is a suitable successor for the position, it may take him a long time to become effective in the new job. Here, the organization should manage the skills and competencies by planning the critical positions and the skills required to fill them, and identify employees with the right qualifications.

Q.3 How can we keep back the Talent in the organization during a recession?

The way to keep the talent is the same in times of recession and in times of economic growth. In both cases, you require to consider the appropriate way for compensating your talents and identifying what motivates them. Here, some employees can even prefer to enrich their professional skills, some set the next job as their goal, and others seek to participate in a professional conference. During a recession, the solution for employee retention will revolve probably around professional development inside the organization, guided by a senior company executive, exposure to cross-organizational projects, etc.

Q.4 What are your views on whether the Talent Management policies and processes be transparent to all or only for relevant ones?

When introducing talent management into the organization, the communication policy is always a problem on which management must decide. However, the degree of transparency on this issue will probably be similar to the level of transparency on other issues, since it is based on the corporate culture. In any case, creating a distinction between different groups of employees in the organization is in direct dispute with the principles of equality and social justice. For reducing tension on this issue, the organization should practice transparency and apply a strategy for talent management that clearly defines the employee characteristics that are recognized as talent. When policies are clear, you are more able to address the dissatisfaction among the employees who are not included in the plan, and the issue becomes less emotional.

Q.5 Explain the types of Talent Management processes.

The various processes are:

1. Workforce Planning This process establishes workforce plans, hiring plans, compensation budgets, and hiring targets for the year.

2. Recruiting Through an integrated process of recruiting, assessment, evaluation, and hiring the business brings people into the organization.

3. Onboarding The organization must train and allow employees to become productive and integrated into the company more quickly.

4. Performance Management By using the business plan, the organization creates processes to measure and manage employees.

5. Training and Performance Support This provides learning and development programs to all levels of the organization.

6. Succession Planning Succession planning allows managers and individuals to identify the right candidates for a position.

7. Compensation and Benefits Here organizations try to tie the compensation plan directly to performance management so that compensation, incentives, and benefits align with business goals and business execution.

Q.8 How will you retain the talent in the organization during a recession and without a assigned budget?

These kind of question focuses on understanding your management style and ways of handling a given situation to analyse whether you are a good fit for the organization or not. Sample Answer - The way to retain talent is the same in time of recession and economic growth. As a Talent Manager you have to consider the appropriate ways to compensate your talents and identify what motivates them. The only point of difference is the type of answers the organization is capable of providing during a recession, versus the options available in times of growth. Clearly the answer is not always financial compensation. There are some employees who prefer to enrich their professional skills, some set the next job as their goal, and others seek to participate in a professional conference. During the time of recession, the only solution for employee retention focuses on professional development within the organization, mentoring by a senior company executive, and exposure to cross-organizational projects.

Q.9 Name the modules included in the Technological Solution?

Lumesse ETWeb is a comprehensive and integrative system based on a modular approach, which provides the organization with partial or full Talent Management solutions that the organization is interested in implementing. However, the system includes:

Firstly, HR Core for collecting and consolidating employee and job data over modules like learning management and performance management, providing accurate and timely information without the need for duplicate data entry, and lowering the number of errors significantly.
Secondly, Performance Management for creating a correlation between employees’ individual goals and the strategic objectives of the organization.
Thirdly, Compensation Management allows HR personnel, professional managers, and management to work together for developing an encouraging and competitive approach based on salary, bonuses, incentive plans, and benefits.
Then, Skills and Competency Management helps in identifying the employees with the skills, training, knowledge, and personal qualities you require and plan their course of development in accordance with your organizational goals. Next, 360Degree Feedback allows creating personal and balanced employees assessment for determining their potential, strengths, and weaknesses.
After that, Career and Succession Planning helps in handling the issue of missing skills, managing the talent pool of the company identify successors, planning development courses, and identifying opportunities for internal mobility of employees.
Lastly, Learning Management allows you to build and manage an effective learning culture in the workplace depending on determining and matching the individual learning requirements of employees with organizational needs.

Q.10 As a talent manager you would require strong interpersonal skills together with the ability to represent in front of audiences. Share your experience with both presenting and public speaking?

As a talent manager you are requires to share your experience and opinions. Try to be more expressive and elaborate your experience well. Sample Answer - In my previous job I was responsible for conducting monthly workshops on company culture and talent acquisition topics used at workplace. I also gave a workshop on employee retention and implementing employee appreciation programs on Client's request. I have also given talk sessions several times at business associations and groups. My last job also required me to present on results and reports in front of clients and managers.

Q.12 What according to you are the qualities required to prepare for a people-centric and high stress job in talent management?

Some of the key qualities required to become a good talent manager are - Leadership, time management and posses a good understanding of people You can also state some real-time examples or situations to support your answer that you have the required skills to get hired. I was promoted to lead recruiter within 8 months of being hired. I was responsible for managing a team of three other recruiters and also assisted the staffing agency to grow their client base by 30% and also earned the title of Top Staffing Agency in our area. As a lead recruiter I honed my time management abilities to make sure that no project or task gets delayed and avoiding any kind of wastage. Lastly, my people skills permits me to work in harmony and effectively with co-workers, managers, subordinates, clients and candidates alike for better output.

Q.13 Why some employees are first included then get rejected in the Talent Management Process?

The inclusion of an employee in the talent management process is commonly based on their managers’ recommendations. The employee then undergoes a more comprehensive and objective evaluation, such as 360-degree feedback. At times, at this phase “mistakes” are found. In this case, the employee remains in the process for the current year but does not continue the next year. In addition, there are employees who leave the process because of changes in work patterns. The decisions as to who the talent totally depends on capabilities like performance, strategic planning, collaboration with co-workers, and more.

Q.14 What is your involvement in industry groups, and describe the type of professional development activities that you engage in?

The focus of the interviewer is to understand your inter-personal skills and social association. You are required to give real-time situation to support your answer. I am a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, and also contribute to various online business publications, that requires a lot of research on my own time to uncover new development and trends in the talent acquisition industry. I have also attend industry conferences and participate in the SHRM’s seminars and workshops. Working in a fast-moving industry it is crucial to keep our skills current, therefore I ensure to be on the edge of new industry trends by attending seminars and taking certification programmes to enrich my profile.

Q.15 What is an effective Employee Development Plan?

A successful employee development plan must address issues like personal development, group development, and career development. In which, Personal development is based on the profile of the employee’s specific capabilities.
The employee’s strengths and weaknesses are identified as part of the performance assessment process, and together with the employee.
Group development is intended for meeting the common talent needs of a group, such as developing long-term strategic thinking, bringing about change, and more.
Lastly, Career development is needed for showing the employee, who is part of the talent pool, that within a certain period of time, usually up to two years, it will affect his career.

Q.16 According to you should Talent Management policies and processes be transparent to all company employees or only to a set of relevant population?

The degree of transparency is one of the most critical issues and also it depends on the company culture and functioning. So we must keep in mind that creating a distinction between different groups of employees in the organization is in direct conflict with the principles of equality and social justice. According to me one way to reduce stress on this issue by the organization is to practice transparency and build strategy for talent management that clearly specifies the employee characteristics that are identified as talent. So when we have clear policies and transparent, you will be more capable to address dissatisfaction among the employees who are not included in the plan, so that the issue becomes less emotional.

Q.22 What do you understand about Competency in Talent Management?

Competency is the ability of an individual to do a job properly. A competency is a set of defined behaviors that provide a structured guide enabling the identification, evaluation, and development of the behaviors in individual employees. However, competency has different meanings and continues to remain one of the most diffuse terms in the management development sector and the organizational and occupational literature. Further, competencies are also what people need to be successful in their jobs. That is to say, competencies include all the related knowledge, skills, abilities, and attributes that form a person’s job.

Q.23 Define the term Recruitment.

This refers to the overall process of attracting, selecting and appointing suitable candidates for jobs inside an organization, either permanent or temporary. This can also be considered as processes involved in selecting individuals for unpaid positions, such as voluntary roles or training programs. However, Recruiting may be undertaken in-house by managers, human resource generalists, and/or recruitment specialists. Alternatively, parts of the process may be undertaken by either public-sector employment agencies, commercial recruitment agencies, or specialist search consultancies. The use of internet-based services and computer technologies to support all aspects of activity and processes has become widespread.

Q.31 Name some of the methods for evaluating assessment.

The assessment methods are determined for their effectiveness by evaluating the following determinants

Firstly, Validity. This method predicts the learned components of job success.
Secondly, Return of investment. A measure for examining whether a financial return exceeds the cost associating with using it.
Thirdly, Application reaction. This includes the perception of the job for its fairness and assessment method.
Then, Usability. The ability of the people in the organization for using the method consistently and correctly.
After that, Adverse impact. It makes sure that the assessment method used is without discrimination of a particular group.
Lastly, the Selection Ratio. This provides the number of people hired against the number of applicants.

Q.32 What are the external assessment methods?

The external assessment methods include:

1. Screening Assessment methods -0 This method requires scanning and short-listing applicant profiles and resumes.

2. Job Applications - This enables applicants to provide written information about their qualifications, skills, job experiences, and other relevant information.

3. Weighted applications - This is another method by which each credential by the applicant entered is given a score or a percentage.

4. Telephone Screen - This enables the recruiter to have an initial discussion for assessing the applicant’s availability, interest, and qualifications for a job.

Q.33 According to you, what are the goals of internal assessment?

The goals of an internal assessment exercise are to determine the best fit with the requirements of the other jobs in the company. When an employee wants to take up tasks in higher positions, they are evaluated against the company’s values and requirements for the position compared to other applicants. However, the goals for this exercise include:

Firstly, examining the fit of employees for other jobs
Secondly, improving the company’s strategic capabilities
Thirdly, collecting information for restructuring or downsizing decisions
Then, rationalizing and optimizing the current employees for fit
Next, increasing the company’s ROI and investments made with staffing
After that, supporting the HR strategy and talent philosophy
Lastly, reinforcing the employer image and identifying staff development needs.

Q.34 Explain the Internal Assessment methods.

Internal candidates or employees are assessed by the same methods that are used for assessing external candidates. Employees can also be assessed by an external recruiter, but other performance review methods conducted by supervisors are equally effective and less expensive. The methods for internal assessment include:

1. Skills inventory This is also called the skills database and this allows a company to maintain a list outlining which employees have what type of skills, characteristics, and relevant job competencies.

2. Mentoring Mentoring is a dynamic relationship between a more experienced employee and a junior employee focused on promoting career development for both of them.

3. Performance review This is also called performance appraisal and this is conducted by the employee’s supervisor to provide performance feedback to the employee.

Q.35 What do you understand about Succession Management?

Succession management refers to an ongoing process for identifying, assessing, and developing an organization’s leadership capabilities to enhance its performance. This also involves ongoing strategic talent planning, retention planning, talent assessment, and development, and retirement. Further, succession management is done in advance and is a continuous process and affects an organization’s long-term direction and growth. The increased demand for diverse employees is also becoming important and as a result, many organizations are integrating workforce diversity along with succession management.

Q.36 What do you understand about Game-Learning?

Games and learning is a field of education research that studies what is learned by playing video games, and how the design principles, data, and communities of video gameplay can be used for developing new learning environments. However, game-learning refers to a corporate learning and development methodology in which the content of a training course is merged with an online graphic adventure video game integrating a complex virtual-world simulator. Across the application of game-based learning principles and the use of engaging gamification techniques, the learner masters soft skills playing a video game.

Q.38 What do you know about Herzberg’s Theory?

An alternative motivation theory to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is the Motivator-Hygiene (Herzberg’s) theory. The theories have overlap, but the basic nature of each model varies. While Maslow’s Hierarchy understood that the addition or removal of the same need stimuli will enhance or detract from the employee’s satisfaction, Herzberg’s findings point that factors garnering job satisfaction are separate from factors leading to poor job satisfaction and employee turnover. Herzberg’s system of needs is segmented into motivators and hygiene factors. Further, it is also known as a two-factor theory which states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction, all of which act independently of each other.

Q.41 Differentiate between career development and executive coaching.

Career Development states that it is important for employees to understand their career path inside an organization to motivate them to remain in the organization to achieve their personal career goals. Using surveys, discussion, and classroom instruction, employees can better understand their goals for personal development. Whereas, executive coaching can be used in building competencies in leaders inside an organization. Coaching can be useful in times of organizational change, for increasing a leader’s effectiveness, or to encourage managers to implement coaching techniques with peers and direct reports. However, the coaching process starts with an assessment of the individual’s strengths and opportunities for improvement. The issues are then prioritized and interventions are delivered to target key weaknesses.

Q.42 Name the various retention tools and resources in Talent Management.

Some of the tools are:

1. Employee Surveys By surveying employees, organizations can gain insight into the motivation, engagement, and satisfaction of their employees.

2. Exit Interviews By including exit interviews in the process of employee separation, organizations can gain valuable insight into the workplace experience. Moreover, they allow the organization to understand the triggers of the employees who want to leave as well as the aspects of their work that they enjoyed.

3. Employee Separation Employee Separation should be handled correctly. However, if it is handled in an efficient manner, then it can lead to various legal complications. Employment separation occurs when the employment contract or at-will agreement between an employee and his or her company comes to an end.

Q.45 Describe the Talent Life Cycle process.

The process of best practices in the talent management Process combined with state-of-the-art allowing technology for supporting measurable talent and business outcomes are achieved. However, the process includes:

1. Planning Start with an overall talent Audit that aligns your workforce and that allows your enterprise for creating a powerful talent pipeline to Top Performing Teams. However, creating each department with people who are similar to your current Top Performers allows better levels of engagement between stakeholders at all levels of the enterprise and enhances job performance.

2. Acquisition This states applying state-of-the-art science and technology, modifying the costly hiring funnel to an efficient talent acquisition engine, and preventing you from hiring 85% of the people you would normally hire. However, having the ability to attract, select and hire the Right Talent directly impacts you ROI and bottom line.

3. Engagement Engaging more top Performers is a precursor to higher levels of commitment and discretionary effort.

4. Development Understanding present and future workforce requirements are essential to executing a good strategy. Applying pre-employment protocols for aligning and distributing the tasks of people and teams so that they can achieve higher levels of engagement, performance, and success.

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