Interview Questions To Ask Manager Candidates

Questions To Ask A Candidate During A Job Interview

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Hiring managers are tasked with interviewing candidates to fill open positions. Throughout each interview, they may ask the candidate a series of questions to assess their level of experience and qualifications for the role. Understanding the best questions to ask a candidate during a job interview can help you determine which candidates are the best fit for the role and company.

In this article, we share 36 interview questions hiring managers can ask during an interview and we provide sample answers that you might expect to hear.

Hr Manager Interview Questions About Experience And Background

The following are examples of HR manager interview questions that may be asked about your work experience and background:

• Can you describe your management style?

• As an HR manager, what qualities do you possess that will help you drive results in our company?

• Describe a tough experience you had with a colleague or a manager and how you handled it.

• What educational background do you have that qualifies you for this HR position in our company?

• How many years of experience do you have in HR?

• What experience do you have leading a project team as an HR manager?

• How versatile are you working with software systems in HR?

• What experience do you have handling conflict in an organization?

• How have you coped with leading a hiring team? Describe a practical experience.

Interview Questions For Manager Goal Setting/performance

Another key area for managers is being able to get the most from their team. These interview questions will help you understand how a manager sets goals with their employees as well as measures performance.

• If hired, how would you evaluate past performance and set goals for the next 30, 60, 90 days?
• What do you think is most important when it comes to setting goals and performance standards for your team?
• If a member of your team is not hitting their performance marks, then what do you do? How do you communicate with them and help them improve?
• What do you think are the most important metrics to measure in your department/team?
• Do you collaborate with your team to set their individual and team goals?
• How do you motivate your team to ensure they meet their goals?

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What Experience Do You Have With Cost Reduction Efforts

With this question, the interviewer wants to see how experienced you are in reducing cost while increasing efficiency and output.

Example:”I have wide-ranging experience with cost reduction with my current and previous employers. On one occasion, I had to carry out adequate market research to discover a training software program for employees at a price that was far lower than the one we were using. This saved the company thousands of dollars and increased employee productivity by 45 percent.”

What Do You Know About Our Business

The candidates answer to this question should indicate some prior knowledge about your business. They may have conducted research to find the information they need. They may have first-hand experience as a customer, client, or even competitor.

Either way, any detailed response reveals that the potential managerial hire likes what your business has to offer and is motivated to be a part of it.

If they know nothing about your company, other than that they want a job, they havent done their due diligence and shouldnt be high on your shortlist of possible hires.

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What Do You Think Makes A Successful Management Team

Successful management is not just about working with direct reports but also requires working as a part of a management team. After you learn about the candidates management style, youll want to ask this follow-up question to see how well they will work with other managers in your company.

This manager interview question lets you explore what your candidate thinks about the current management team. Plus, getting their thoughts on what makes a successful management team provides insight on how theyll align with your current team and company values.

How To Become A Project Manager With Pmp Training In Rochester

A project manager is expected to possess good decision-making ability with feasible process flow. Along with added knowledge in PMP training, you can gain in-depth education in project management methodologies.

Here is how you become a project manager with PMP training in Rochester.

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Project Manager Interview Questions On Consistency And Integrity

Honesty and trustworthiness are of utmost importance in the world of business. Project managers manage critical responsibilities and resources such as material, money, and human resources. They also represent the organization to employees, customers, and vendors. They are role models for their team members. Any lack of consistency and integrity can cost the organization a lot more than money. Therefore, the key questions asked to the candidate will be:

Tell Me Something About Yourself That Isnt On Your Resume

Job seekers carefully craft their resumes to provide the best summary of their professional experience, but you cant learn everything about a candidate from what they put down on paper. This question is purposefully vague and allows the interviewee to decide whether they want to share something job-related or not. They may choose to tell you about their volunteer work, the sabbatical they took to travel the world or another defining experience.

The way they choose to respond to this question, and the story they share, can tell you a lot about the type of employee they will be and what they will be able to contribute to your company culture.

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Communication Interview Questions For Managers

When it comes to managing teams, communication is one of the most important factors. Use this combination of standard and behavioral-based interview questions to assess your manager candidates communication skills.

• What are your preferred tools for communication? How have you used these successfully in the past?
• Tell me about a time when you had a project run into problems because of communication. What would you have done differently if given the chance?
• We let employees work remotely X number of days/week/month. What do you think is necessary to ensure everyone is operating at a high level? How do you help monitor progress or goal setting within your team?
• Describe a time where your team had a fire-drill emergency situation occur. How did you manage the team effectively through that situation? Is there anything you would have done differently if given the chance?

Depending on the size of the team, a manager will often have to mitigate and resolve conflicts within the team/department/company. These are good questions to ask managers to learn how theyve navigated different conflicts.

Questions About Customer Service

Since all management roles serve others, you can expect several situational interview questions about how you help your clients or employees.

• What process do you use to check that you have the correct details from a new customer?
• Tell me about a time that you were unclear about a customers request.
• Give me an example of when you have dealt with an angry customer.
• Describe when it was essential to make a good impression on a client. How did you go about doing so?
• Give me an example of when you did not meet a clients expectations. What happened, and how did you attempt to rectify the situation?
• Tell me about a time when you ensured a customer was pleased with your service.
• When youre working with many customers, its tricky to deliver excellent service to them all. How do you go about prioritizing your customers needs?

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Pretend I’m A Sales Rep Who Has Missed Quota Three Months In A Row And I’m Here For A One

Sales managers have to have uncomfortable conversations with their direct reports. Especially if the candidate is a rep on the team that they might be promoted to lead, sales directors must ensure they can maneuver tough situations and deliver bad news in a positive manner.

However, a candidate who’s overly harsh on their hypothetical stumbling rep is just as bad as one who’s too soft. Look for an innate coaching sensibility and a motivational flair.

How Do You Stay In Contact With Your Team

While you’re of course looking at how this person prefers to communicate, you’re also assessing a crucial management competency – flexibility. With most office workers still working remotely, and many teams setting up a permanent structure of mixed remote- and in-office-work, the manager’s communication style needs to be adaptable to the team, their working style and the business’s ways of working.

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Describe A Time When You Had To Work With Someone Whose Personality Or Work Style Was Very Different From Yours

Being able to work well with other people with different backgrounds, communication styles and personalities is an important part of nearly every job. This question gives the candidate a chance to show off their teamwork, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, including how they compromise, communicate and collaborate to achieve a goal or task. It can also give you deeper insight into their personality and work style.

From Everything Youve Learned About This Role Myself And Our Company Tell Me How You Feel Youd Make A Contribution

This statement lets you see how much research your potential employee has done before arriving to the interview. While most qualified candidates typically will conduct research on the company and the position prior to the interview, a great candidate will take that extra step to be better prepared.

That same mindset will carry over into their working habits. Would you rather have an over-prepared or under-prepared new hire?

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How Will I Know When I Have Succeeded In This Company

It’s a good idea to know how the company celebrates success and how you can expect to know when you have done well. Many companies let you know through evaluations and raises. Other companies like to give gifts, have celebrations or give frequent feedback.

Related: Everything You Need to Know to Measure Success at Work

What Is Your Delegation Style

This is a question that is designed to ask about leadership skills. Explain what has been best for you and use examples of how your delegation style has worked well in the past. Even if youve never technically led a team before, its important to find an example of how you mightve delegated in the past.

FREE Introduction to Project Management Course

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What Do You Like And Dislike About The Sales Process How Comfortable Are You With Upholding It

Every rep has an opinion about the sales process, and some ignore it entirely. But it’s the manager’s role to uphold the sales process in the name of organizational consistency and forecasting accuracy.

Ensure the candidate is comfortable with taking on the role of sales process police, and ask about their strategies for making reps adhere to the regimen.

Questions To Always Ask Management Job Candidates

Always ask these management job interview questions. The answers give you valuable knowledge about the candidates experience.

• How long have you worked as a manager?
• How many employees reported directly to you in your management job?
• Describe the exact responsibilities and activities over which you had oversight for these employees.
• How do you prioritize your role as a manager?

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How Do You Keep Your Team Engaged

EXAMPLE ANSWER:

For engagement, Ive found that the most effective approaches involve healthy challenges, pathways for advancement, and a clear connection between individual tasks and the broader mission. By ensuring all team members get opportunities to join exciting projects and hone new skills, the work stays interesting. Couple that with making all tasks meaningful, and even everyday activities are more engaging.

What Has Changed In The New Pmp Exam Format

The domains for the new PMP Certification exam have been updated to include more diverse skills and approaches.The new PMP Certification exam will focus on three domains:

The new content will also include predictive, agile, and hybrid approaches in the exam.For more detail, please refer to PMP exam updates by PMI.

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Update And Publish The Job Description To The Right Job Boards

Good hiring starts with a strong job ad.

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From the top job boards for reaching talent from diverse backgrounds to all the best free job sites to help maximize your recruitment budget â you want to spread the word far and wide about your amazing new management role.

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How Is The Feedback Process Structured

Asking this question in an interview has been critical for me as a candidate. Performance feedback is important and is how humans get better. Excellence and mastery have always been important to me, and I am aware that they are impossible without knowing how and when to ask for regular feedback. Does this company limit its feedback cycle to the annual reviews? Does the hiring manager make it a priority to deliver just-in-time acknowledgment and suggestions for improvement?

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What Happened To The Person Who Previously Held This Position

It is a good idea to know if the person left due to a promotion or due to a problem with the company or position. If there is a large turnover rate, that can be a signal that the company may not be the best to work for. If the person left for a promotion, then it shows that this position could be a pathway to more opportunities.

Related: Q& A: What Is an Employee Turnover Rate?

What Do You Spend Most Of Your Time Doing At Work

This project manager interview question should shed light on how they perform their job on a daily basis. Are they a project manager that prefers being out in the field or someone who sits at their desk all day?

Remember just because they generally do one or the other does not mean they cant excel in other areas of project management.

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A Knack For Transforming Talent Into Performance

Employees need personalized support, clear feedback and active coaching to help make the most of their skills.

The ability to discover whatâs unique about an individual and leverage that into tangible business outcomes is what separates a great leader from just another meh manager.

Knowing how to transform talent into performance is major, especially in the age of remote and hybrid work. Time management, productivity, and communication can quickly become a challenge for some work-from-homers.

But a strong management hire will inspire performance across the board, finding and nurturing team membersâ natural skills whether they work from home, the office, or that cute little coffee shop down the road.

Donât wait for the right candidates to come knocking. Get qualified applicants when you need them with Breezyâs one-click job board postings. Post to 50+ free job boards in just one click. Try it for free!

What Is Your Leadership Approach To Managing Diverse Teams And Being Sensitive To And Inclusive Of All Your Staff

Dont answer this question by simply spouting off the talking points from your last diversity training. You need to show your interviewers how your values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice play out in the workplace, says Tameka Nikki Andrews, who has managed teams in nonprofits, tech, finance, and advertising has extensive experience with DEI work and is now the founder of the creative consulting agency Flannel and Blade. As a manager, you might supervise employees across spectrums of gender, race, sexuality, age, class, and more, Andrews says. So she says companies want to know: How are you going to make sure that your own biases and narratives dont negatively impact the way you manage people? and How do you effectively create a healthy and productive…team, when everyone is so different from one another?

As a manager, it is your responsibility to be self-aware and educated on DEI best practices in hiring, performance reviews, and conflict management. Weve all seen what can happen if you dont educate yourself on DEI as a leader, Andrews says. Leaders with unexamined unconscious biases perpetuate the passing over and/or silencing of people of color, the stealing of ideas , and the proliferation of microaggressions ranging from sexually inappropriate to racially insensitive comments, to name a few.

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