Endless questions from HR - how to handle?
 

The HR manager of this bank has been asking me endless questions:

Do you get salary on 12 month basis or 13? What is the formula of bonus? What was your bonus each year for the last 5 years? How much leave you get? What are the medical benefits you get? What are the medical benefits your husband gets? What was your salary in 2013? Salary in 2011?

How long should I tolerate her?

what's wrong with these questions? they all seem valid questions a HR manager would ask.

you should answer them unless you're over-declaring your last drawn package and have something to hide, in which case suggest you come clean or have a super smoke bomb up your sleeve.

endless questions
 

Why does the HR need to know how much medical cover my hubby gets? Why do they need to know which school my kids go to? Who needs to know how much bonus I got in 2011?

These are very valid questions. There are lots of people who jump ship once they had a good year's bonus and attempt to BS by claiming that such bonuses are "normal" when negotiating for more money.

They are just trying to find out your total pay package including benefits what is a realistic number you are on now so that they can get the full picture when making an offer.

Seriously how difficult can it get to answer these questions unless you have something to hide? If somebody were to ask me, I can perhaps answer them in less than 5 mins. If they want to know 2 years back how many months bonus I get, I will just make a note to check when I'm back home and call them back to answer.

You are making a very simple routine background check and package understanding procedure to something dramatic as if your personal life has been affected drastically by these questions.

Tone down on that smug attitude, answer them honestly and move on with the job application. Want to act high and mighty at least make it to a Senior Exec level, otherwise just follow protocols.

I think Samantha's point is a valid one and I too will be curious if HR demands so much information.

That said, which stage of the recruitment process are you at, Samantha?

stage of recruitment
 

I have had 4 rounds with the line/hiring managers and 1 round with HR. So far most questions were fine "how do you do x, what do you know about y". Now the HR are Benchmarking my compensation. Honestly, I wonder how the school of my kids will help determine the salary at this place. Most kids in Singapore attend the MOE schools. What difference it makes which school my kids attend?

This isn't a lot at all, this HR appears to be a little more thorough that's all.

Like I said, it takes like 5min to answer. At least it is all related to pay & benefits compared to civil service ask you to state PSLE score and what grade you get exactly for each subject all the way from primary school to uni.

it's simple..... if you don't feel comfortable giving out this info then just tell them so or question the HR manager why they need this info. it will probably jeapordize your application (since it is important enough for them to ask you) so go contemplate how much you want to this job.

yeah! the civil service application form is a pain to fill out and some questions are quite ridiculous like the PSLE like you've pointed out!

Well, the information seems rather innocuous so if it were me I would probably just try to provide if asked.

I'm actually with the poster. For so long, Singaporeans do not understand the concept of personal data and their rights to it. In Europe or USA such personal questions would amount to discrimination. Some companies in the UK even went to the extent to require agreement from the candidates to video the entire interview in order to protect themselves.

The logic is simple: which schools your kids attend or what medical coverage your spouse has has absolutely no relation to the job. The advertised job is not dependent on these factors to select the most suitable candidate based on what has been advertised. Put it this way: Would the HR list these factors in the job ad? If they did anyone can sue them under unfair hiring practises.

I once had an interview with a HR of stat board. She went so far as to probe how did I get the money to fund my studies if I wasn't on a scholarship? I objected by asking her how is this related to the job? She was visibly offended and did not probe further. But excuse me? That was a rude and completely unprofessional question. And she had probably probed similar rude and unprofessional questiins to hundreds other candidates.

Needeless to say, although the job was attractive i had an extremely poor opinion of the company values.

I hope HR professionals read my post above and stop the nonsense if they are guilty. However most HR are very professional. The black sheep are a minority.

candidates can don't choose to answer personal questions, but that will jeopardise the chances of getting hired.

so did u get offer from the stat board? which stat board was that?

when in rome, do as the romans do. seriously it's no big deal, just choose not to answer and lower your own chance of getting hired if the HR manager is offended.

this is called getting to know the candidate better. sometimes i get asked whether am i married. or have a girlfriend. i can choose to be an ess, or it is time to become friendly and play along.

if you're working in finance like a bank, their AML policies includes knowing all sources of income. it's okay if you don't want to provide this information, they will somehow get an idea through background checks, cpf contributions, etc.

so did you get an offer? isnt that the most impt question. Anyway you will only need to see HR another time to sign contract right.

And you wonder why people like Mobile Air Jover got away. It is because consumers do not understand their rights and therefore do not even know what they need to insist. It is the same with job seekers.

Striking up a casual conversation with HR (or anyone from the company for that matter) is perfectly fine, but personal questions should not be construed in the context where it can make or break the chances of getting the job. Focus should always be on relevant skills and experience and capacity in performing the job. More importantly, HR should readily accept candidates preference not to disclose personal information, especially if it has no relations to the advertised job and even more so as the Candidate is not even an employee to begin with.

Besides, HR should really be "pricing" a job based on the job responsibilities and scope as well as what the market rate is for similar capacity jobs. In other words - what the role should be paid in dollar sense. The candidates' last drawn pay has absolutely nothing to do with how much he should be paid for the role. If the role is priced at $X +/- 5% then the successful candidate should be offered $X regardless of how much lesser or more he earned in his current role. With greater transparency in remuneration guidelines, companies score with higher retention because even there is no monetary incentive for the Candidate to quit for another similar job as the pay would be the same.

Food for thought to HR? If anyone if from HR it will be interesting to hear from HR perspective.

Absolutely. If you are desperate for the job and need money to put food on the table, it is understandable. But if you know you have options or are confident of having options, just be firm and politely decline to answer.

It was a research stat board. The dept hiring manager was not a local, never held a rifle in his life, had also asked in an accusing tone why I had gaps between my A levels and University studies. lol *roll eyes*

And when HR came on next, i badly wanted the interview to end. I was fresh out of Uni and i was confident of my options. So.... ;)

Noob sia. He just started work in HR issit?