I always think of these as a sniff-test. They just want to see if you are a real person, who can speak and recite whatever is on your CV/resume. If in-person, that you shower and dress. That's it. If you can pass that stage, you're on to the more expensive interviews.
But I also have no idea what to ask during them either. They always give their 10 minute spiel about what the company is, ask me to give my own 5-10 minute spiel about my work history, then ask if I have any questions. I give my 5-10 minutes of regurgitating my resume in sentence form, and then generally don't have any questions. what kind of questions would I have for HR during a first round interview that hasn't already been answered in a job posting or basic company research anyway?
This HR sniff test also serves to check for interest. When I interview, if the person has zero questions for me it means they don’t really care that much or weren’t paying attention. Questions mean you’re curious. A 10-minute speech about what the company is and the team does is not enough for you to understand the job and work, so follow-up questions are important. Also it lets the person know where your mind goes, what questions come up first, etc.
Just don’t brown-nose them and ask fake questions just to ask any :)
I do ask about the team I'll be working on, but that's basically it.
You're right that the 10 minute speech isn't enough. I'd even say it serves no value. Which is why it goes in one ear and out the other.
While I try to put on my fake HR face to hide it, I don't have interest. I'm a replaceable cog, and the company is a replaceable machine. But we all need money to live.
Tbh, if sounds like HR interviews want brown-nosing. Not in compliments or anything, but in asking the questions they expect you to ask, and faking your responses and enthusiasm to be just right to tickle their fancy.
You would be foolish to not have that (very easy) chat with the Hr person just to progress
if you're talking to hr at stage 1, it just means the automated system validated your application has all the right keywords. its a red flag for me.
HR would do those to filter bullshitters, but also set expectations on culture, salary, work etc. If the person came from a huge bank and is joining a 50-people team, they need to understand the difference in work environments.
So I’d second other comments saying that I wouldn’t rule out a company just because HR is doing triage.
Edit: typo