Benefits Specialist interview questions and answers
During your hiring process, use these sample Benefits Specialist interview questions to evaluate candidates for your HR department.
Benefits Specialist Interview Questions
Benefits Specialists manage employees’ perks and benefits packages, including insurance programs, retirement plans, stock options and training. They ensure all benefits comply with labor legislation and recommend new perks to increase employee engagement.
Candidates should be familiar with compensation packages and know how to increase employee engagement through perks and benefits. Keep an eye out for candidates with an HR academic background and relevant work experience (e.g. in payroll.) Certifications in organizational psychology are a plus, as they help Benefits Specialists design incentives that increase employee satisfaction and retention.
Your future hire should be able to handle sensitive information. Ask candidates how they approached confidentiality in their previous positions or pose hypothetical scenarios to test how they would manage challenges at work.
Operational and Situational questions
- If we wanted to hire interns, what kinds of benefits should we highlight in our job ads?
- How would you determine which benefits and perks to cut or expand?
- One employee complains to HR about increased workload due to a team member’s long absence from work. You know that this team member is taking a sick leave because of a serious health problem. How would you address this issue?
- What benefits would you suggest we offer to remote workers?
- What kinds of benefits should we offer to support diversity? (e.g. extend our maternity leave policy to a parental leave policy)
Role-specific questions
- What Human Resources Management Systems have you used?
- In our country, what’s the minimum number of paid vacation days per year that full-time employees can take? How does this amount change after employees complete certain years of employment with our company?
- Describe what limitations a work from home policy should have to ensure employees remain productive.
- How do you calculate and track costs of perks?
- Which are the most popular benefits companies in our industry offer?
Behavioral questions
- How do you ensure employees understand their health insurance plans and use them when needed? Do you prefer giving presentations or handing out brochures to explain the terms?
- Tell us about a mistake you made at work (e.g. miscalculated an employee’s total available vacation days.) What did you do to fix it?
- How do you ensure you accurately update employee records?
- Describe a time when you designed and implemented an employee training program.
- How do you stay up-to-date with changes in labor legislation?