Job Interview Questions & Answers
Prepare for the job interview
Here you can find questions & answers to them from HR experts
The psychological profile is important, but the professional qualities of a top manager play a key role in making a hiring decision. For the interview, specialists who understand the field of work of the company can be hired. Less often, technical employees (for example, chief accountants, engineers) are involved in the interview, who in the future will be subordinates of the hired candidate. However, this point is worth considering.
Questions that can be heard in a competency interview.
Tip:
A top manager who has completely cut off all ties with previous colleagues and subordinates looks suspicious. The exception is cases when the previous place of work implies access to confidential information, relates to the military or scientific field. Communication may be undesirable or even prohibited by the terms of the contract.
In all other cases, it is worth emphasizing that communication continues, but not often and not closely. Saying that you continue to discuss the life of the team in the general chat is not a good idea. It is better to mention that you still have all the contacts, you congratulate former colleagues on the holidays, and in which case you can get their help and advice. The mention of too close communication is unlikely to please HR professionals.
Answer example:
I keep in touch with my former colleagues and subordinates. We congratulate each other on holidays, consult on any issues. These ties cannot be called close, but mutual assistance can be counted on.
Tip:
It is quite difficult to work in companies with one owner. The owner has the right to make final decisions, but they are not always correct. The development of the company, the atmosphere in the team depends on how exactly the top manager will interact with the owner.
"I will agree with any proposal of the owner" is a bad answer. “I will look for arguments and try to convince” sounds better.
Answer example:
I will gather a group of independent specialists, we will work out several alternatives and come to a compromise together.
Answer example:
The question allows you to assess emotional intelligence, conflict resolution skills. On the one hand, a leader who does not accept objections and stops disputes in the bud quickly loses the respect of his subordinates. The team members of such a top manager prefer to work “on orders”, they are afraid to make decisions, they try to coordinate every step. It is impossible to develop a company in such an atmosphere.
On the other hand, a manager who is happy to enter into constant disputes risks losing credibility. Correct answer: outline a list of issues in which disputes are unacceptable. A big plus would be the mention of the involvement of professional mediators.
Tip:
Mistakes happen to everyone. It is important for an HR specialist to understand exactly how a candidate copes with failures. Worst answer: “I will leave my position immediately.”
A good top manager is expected to be self-critical, focused on results. Therefore, it is better to prepare some kind of universal error correction strategy. Questions about failures (albeit worded differently) will definitely be present at the interview on competencies.
Answer example:
The strategy I proposed failed because I did not analyze the market effectively enough. As soon as I realized that sales were declining, I contacted the people in charge, and we found additional resources that allowed us to increase sales. After this incident, I analyze the market in more detail and do not make such mistakes. Since then, the situation has not been repeated.
Tip:
When answering questions that involve a large number of subordinates, professionals necessarily counter-request information about the system of conditional organizational structure.
It is unlikely that all 100 people have a direct subordination to a top manager. Usually between the lower-level employee and the director there is also the head of the department. Based on the information received, it is necessary to draw up delegation and control schemes. A good top manager trusts his team, does not control each person separately, but collects intermediate information from group leaders.
Answer example:
If we consider an imaginary situation where all 100 people are subordinated directly, then the right solution is to create headquarters or groups with leaders and only then distribute tasks.