Position Name: General Manager
Interviewer
Candidate Name
Interview Date
Introductory Questions
– Interviewer(s) share name, role, tenure, and hand business cards for thank you messages – Share a brief overview of the company
– Give Candidate the Job Description, highlight Job Purpose, Schedule/Travel, Major Challenges & Key Decisions, and Physical Requirements
Walk us through your professional background.
What type of environment do you thrive in? What type of management style do you enjoy most?
What are your short and long-term professional goals?
What do you know about our organization?
Transitional & Verification Questions
– Clarify any unclear information from resume or application
– Verify availability for work hours and schedule, start date, and other important details
What interests you about this role?
Will you now or at any point in the future require visa sponsorship to work for us?
Technical Questions
– Ask job related questions, based on skills and competencies needed for the role
– Ask open ended questions that allow candidates to tell a story about a specific example
– Ask 5-10 questions based on the role and how much time you have (~3-4 minutes per question)
– Listen for recent examples, details, consistency, the candidate’s role in the story, and teamwork
– Take notes and ask clarifying questions as follow-ups
What specific areas (related to the position) do you consider yourself the most knowledgeable? What areas have you had less experience or do not feel as comfortable with?
What has given you the greatest sense of achievement at work and why?
Behavioral / Situational Questions
– Ask job related questions, based on skills and competencies needed for the role
– Ask open ended questions that allow candidates to tell a story about a specific example
– Ask 5-10 questions based on the role and how much time you have (~3-4 minutes per question)
– Listen for recent examples, details, consistency, the candidate’s role in the story, and teamwork
– Take notes and ask clarifying questions as follow-ups. Follow up questions may include:
- Tell us more about the action you took and the outcome.
- What did you say at that point?
- How did you react to that situation?
- Explain your role in more detail.
- Tell me in detail what steps you took.
- And what was the result?
- Describe the obstacles you faced in getting it done.
- What other options did you consider?
- Why do you think you reacted as you did?
- How do you think others felt about your actions at the time?
- Were you satisfied with the outcome of your actions?
- If the same or a similar situation presented itself, what would you do differently?
Adaptability
Tell me about a time when you had to deal with changes in organizational direction that impacted your work. How did you respond?
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Tell me about a situation where you were under a great deal of pressure because of numerous demands competing for your time and attention. How did you resolve the situation?
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Business Acumen
In your current role, what is the interaction or impact of your responsibilities on R&D, marketing, budget, finance, and other areas of the business?
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How do you ensure that your work and goals are aligned with corporate or strategic goals? Tell me about a time when you had to pay particular attention to this.
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Change Management
As you have changed from role to role throughout your career, how have you modified your behavior to deal effectively with changes in the work environment? Give a specific example.
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Coaching & Mentoring
What strategies would you use to motivate your team?
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Communication
To get our points across, we sometimes need to use differing approaches when talking with different types of people. Talk to me about a time when you have done that successfully.
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Conflict Management
Give me an example of a time when you confronted a negative attitude successfully.
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Describe a time when you communicated something unpleasant or difficult to your manager. How did you assert yourself?
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Decision Making
What do you find most challenging about making a hard decision?
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Delegation
Describe how you set expectations when delegating and how you have monitored progress. Give me an example of a time when this worked successfully/not successfully.
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Developing Others
How do you go about assessing team member’s development needs and goals?
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Emotional Intelligence
How do you determine what information and when it is time to update upper management?
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What has been the most difficult criticism for you to receive?
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Initiative
How do you typically make your leadership aware of your extra contributions and initiative?
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Leadership
Describe a situation where your actions/words were instrumental in achieving the desired action.
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What makes you an effective leader? Why do you think people want to work for you?
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Managing Others
What policies and practices have you put in place to help structure the talent aspects of the organization?
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Describe your management style. Tell me about a situation that exemplifies your management style.
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Describe a situation where you needed to manage in a very different way. What was the outcome? Did you make the right decision?
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Problem Solving
Tell me about a recent time when you needed to adjust your approach on the fly in order to complete a job or project.
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Tell me about a problem that needed fixing where you weren’t sure how to approach it.
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Project Management
What is your preferred approach to managing a project? What are the methods and tools used? What makes you effective? Tell me about a team project you had to manage?
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Results Orientation
What results have you achieved that you are most proud of?
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How do you measure your work results?
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Relationship Building
How does one go about building rapport quickly and maintaining successful business relationships? Give examples of how you made these work for you.
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Time Management
You’re leading a team on a highly time-sensitive project when suddenly, a colleague challenges the direction of the strategy you’re proposing. How do you address this challenge while keeping up with the timeline?
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Candidate’s Questions
– Be sure to leave time for their questions, generally 1-3
– Paint a positive but honest view of the pros and cons of the work and culture
Notes
Closing Questions
– Describe where you are in the process, next steps, and when they can expect to hear back
– Ask if they have any final remarks
What is one thing I should know about you that I haven’t asked?
What could you bring to this position that other candidates could not?
Interviewer Assessment
Enter your overall assessment about the candidate’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and fit for this position.
Would you recommend this candidate advance in the process?