Candidate Interview Questions - Hiring Managers
Are you ready to answer the following questions?
- What are the most important skills and attributes you are looking for in filling this position?
- What would be a typical working day for this position?
- How many hours of work per week would be required to be successful?
- What is the organization structure of your department?
- How would you describe your company culture?
- What are your organizational values? How do these values influence your decision-making?
- What is your vision for your department over the next two to three years?
- What major challenges are you currently facing as a manager?
- What is your competitive advantage in the marketplace?
- What makes your company better than your competitors?
- What are the areas where your competitors are better than your company?
- Who do you consider your customers to be?
- What is your value proposition to your customers?
- What business problems keep you awake at night?
- Can you tell me more about the other people in the organization I would be working with? Can I meet with any of them before accepting an offer of employment?
- What would you consider to be exceptional performance from someone performing in this position in the first 90 days?
- What is the internal perception of pursuing further education, such as a Masters degree?
- What is your management style?
- How do you typically make decisions?
- What is your preferred method of communicating with your team?
- How are you measured as a manager?
- What can I do to make you successful?
- How long have you been with the organization?
- What has been your career path within the organization?
- What will be the measurements of my success in this position?
- Do you have an employee stock purchase plan? Do you participate?
- Who are the primary constituencies that you are responsible to support? Shareholders? Customers? Employees? How do you make decisions which conflict with the needs of these different constituencies?
- How does the pressure of Wall Street expectations affect the short-term decision making among managers?
- What are the organizational goals?
- What are the metrics used to measure whether or not you are achieving your goals?
- How far out into the future is the organization planning?
- Do you have strategic planning within your organization? How often is it done? Who participates? What is the typical planning time horizon?
- How are new strategic initiatives communicated to the organization?
- Is your department considered to be a profit center or cost center? What are the financial expectations of the department?
- Do you have control over your own budget? How is the initial budget amount determined?
- Are budgets made at a centralized location, then rolled down, or decentralized, then rolled up?
- What is your approach with regard to the use of technology?
- Is there anyone within your organization who is considered to be a thought leader within the industry? What is it about that person that makes him/her a thought leader?
- What is the next step in the interviewing process?
Are there any questions you would like to suggest for adding to this list? If so, please send them to our attention.