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When looking to interview for a leadership role, are you prepared to answer the most common interview questions for managers?
We all get nervous about interviews, and while it seems like it might get easier as you move up in your career, it is often just as challenging. In fact, interview questions for leaders might be the toughest of them all!
In this article, we'll review the top interview questions for management positions, how to answer them, and what you can expect.
How To Practice Your Answers for Management Interviews
While you want to practice and work on crafting responses that articulate your value as a candidate, you don’t want to appear as though you’re rattling off an answer you memorized.
Instead of memorizing answers, consider identifying stories and examples from your career experience that can be used to illustrate your qualifications for the role.
A great way to achieve this is by using the STAR method.
The STAR method works well because it gives the interviewer everything she needs to know—the context of the story, what was required of you, the specific steps you took, and the result of your actions.
- Situation
- Task
- Action
- Result
It can feel unnatural for us to give a result because it feels like bragging. An experienced interviewer, however, will look for your story's result.
How Many Years of Managerial Experience Do You Have?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
The interviewer likely wants to see how you answer this question and if you’re qualified for the role.
While some job titles have “manager” in them, candidates have often taken on roles with integrated management or leadership capacity, even if the term “manager” wasn’t in their job title. This can make it hard to accurately determine a candidate’s management experience solely from their resume.
How to Answer:
If you’ve taken on management responsibilities, show that to the interviewer! This is particularly important if you go above and beyond your job description to practice empathetic leadership.
Be sure to address all your management responsibilities. If you managed projects or managed teams while the given manager was out of the office, this is your chance to highlight that to the interviewer.
Describe the Scope of Your Responsibilities in Your Current Position
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
This is the interviewer essentially asking, “Why Are You Qualified for This Job?” They want to see what you currently do and how that relates to the job you’re applying for.
When crafting an answer, consider how your current responsibilities have honed the skills and tasks you’ll need to take on in the prospective position.
Think of it this way. They don't want to hire someone who knows nothing about the job. They don't want to train their new leaders from scratch. That seems like a lot of work. They would rather have the interviewee explain to them—through their qualifications—what they already know and can start doing for the company right away.
How to Answer:
Consider your hard skills, soft skills, and knowledge that can be applied, and share those specifics in your answer. Read the job description carefully and pay attention to the information you learn about the role throughout your interview process.
You might say, "Earlier you mentioned that there was a real challenge with getting your marketing acquisition cost down. I manage this at my current job by doing X, Y, and Z."
Pro Tip: If you noticed a gap in your skillset while reading the job description, address it. By enrolling in a course, tell the interviewer how you're currently working on your public speaking.
What Have You Done to Improve Your Managerial Skills?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
The interviewer likely wants to see how you’ve taken it upon yourself to improve your skills, and how committed you are to being a good manager.
Having the motivation to better your skills is an amazing trait for any employee to have, but it is particularly compelling when someone in management wants to improve in order to serve their employees better.
How to Answer:
Have certifications or specialized training? Tell the interviewer here!
This is where you can discuss any courses you’ve taken, any reading you’ve done, or any mentorship you’ve sought out. If you have a mentor who is in a management or leadership role, you can discuss how you’ve observed varying leadership styles to determine how you want to manage others.
Additionally, taking it upon yourself to learn new skills or tactics to improve your management capabilities is a big plus. Even as you move higher up the ladder into management, you should constantly learn from those around you and your employees.
The ability to continually learn and grow shows that you’re open-minded and willing to adapt based on the situation and needs of your team.
Describe a Time When You Acted as Someone's Mentor.
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
They want to see how you mentor others and what tactics you use to influence and motivate mentees.
How to Answer:
If you have acted as a mentor, discuss the relationship, how you supported your mentee, and how you helped them grow. If you haven’t served as a true mentor, this might be a good opportunity to discuss a mentor that you had, what you learned, and how you would implement this knowledge into mentoring someone else.
What Was Your Favorite Part of How a Former Supervisor Led Your Team?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
They want to see what you’re attracted to in a leader/manager, and want to see how you speak about your former employers.
How to Answer:
This is your chance to give kudos where it is deserved! Share what worked and how it benefitted you and/or the team.
If you had a horrible manager, perhaps you can find one thing that worked in their management style. If not, you can discuss strategies that you think would have worked better based on team dynamics.
How Would You Describe Your Personality?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
With regard to work, in particular, understanding your unique personality traits can help you better empathize with your coworkers and employees, reflect on how you view yourself, and gain insight into how others might view you as a manager.
Your self-awareness about your personality can be very illuminating for the interviewer.
How to Answer:
For an easy way to gain insight into your personality, consider taking a personality test to help identify character traits, strengths, and weaknesses.
Here are some of the most popular tests:
- The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test
- The Enneagram Test
- The Four Tendencies Test
- CliftonStrengths Assessment
- CareerFitter Personality Test
These tests may offer valuable insight into your personality dimensions and characteristics.
What's Your Biggest Professional Accomplishment?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
Recruiters and hiring managers ask this question because they want to hear real examples of your work. More importantly, they want to learn about your successful projects, the details around them, and how you personally got to the finish line.
How to Answer:
Make sure your achievements match the job at hand. Consider how the achievement ties into the required skills for the job you’re interviewing for. You might consider how your biggest professional accomplishment prepared you for the role, what it taught you, and how you used this to grow in your career.
What’s Your Biggest Weakness?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
The interviewer is asking this question to see if you can be self-critical.
This is particularly important if you’re in a role where you are leading others and working autonomously. In addition to managing others, you’ll need to analyze your work, behavior, and accomplishments to see if what you’re doing is working or whether you need to make adjustments to improve.
How to Answer:
When revealing a weakness, honesty and self-awareness are your biggest allies. An interviewer seeks an answer that isn't a canned cop-out (e.g., "I'm a huge perfectionist."). They're looking for a thoughtful, honest answer.
Here’s a three-step process for identifying and embracing your weaknesses:
- Self-reflect.
- Name your weakness.
- Tell a story to share how you're actively improving on your weakness.
When telling a story, try to end positively. Highlight areas of growth, self-awareness, and the ability to move forward.
What's the Most Exciting Aspect of Working in a Managerial Position?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
Companies want to hire engaged employees. Someone who enjoys their work will be more engaged and likely have better rapport with their team.
How to Answer:
Be truthful! Share what you like about your job, what you learn from it, and use the job description to integrate keywords and phrases that the company is looking for.
It’s important to realize how much of a cheat sheet the job description is for every interview. When used correctly, the job post or job description *literally* has many of the answers to these questions; your only job is to tailor these answers to yourself.
For example, if the job description lists "strong collaborative teamwork" as a requisite, make a point to highlight that phrase.
What is Your Leadership Style?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
Interviewers want to hear how you discuss leadership, what kind of leadership style you have, and see if your style of work fits in with the corporate culture. When hiring a manager or leader, companies want to know that the person is qualified and that they will have chemistry with peers and employees.
How to Answer:
That's why it's best to find a way to describe your leadership style while remaining flexible in your approach.
For example, "My leadership style leans toward a mix of democratic and coaching, but I know that every team member is unique. I make sure to learn and use the style that works best for them."
It's always helpful to provide some examples of times when your leadership style has been particularly valuable—like coaching a team from underperforming to top earners or increasing team morale with survey data to back up your claims.
Why Do You Want to Assume a Leadership Position for This Company?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
Hiring managers and recruiters also like to dig deep to ensure that you’re actually interested in working for them. They want to know that you're familiar with the organization's mission statement, legacy, and goals.
How to Answer:
Do your due diligence and show that you’re interested in the company. Show that you’ve done the research and the company aligns with your goals and your own personal mission.
- First things first, know everything about the company
- Sleuth their social media, press releases, news articles, and team members on LinkedIn
- Once you’ve gathered information, write down what you admire about the company
- Prepare for any follow-up job interview questions after your response
Ultimately, this is your chance to show why you want this job—and not just any job. Show the interviewer that you’re invested and want to be part of the organization.
What Event Has Had the Greatest Influence on Your Professional Career So Far?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
Seeing how people are influenced gives us greater insight into their inner workings, brain processes, and goals. Learning what has been most impactful and/or influential in your career will give the interviewer a better understanding of your actions and thought process.
How to Answer:
Be sure to talk about WHAT event influenced you and WHY it influenced you.
You could say that a layoff was an influential event in your career, but the why behind it is what will make an impact.
For example, you can say something like this:
"Getting laid off was largely influential in my career because it forced me out of what I now realize was a toxic work situation. While getting laid off was stressful, it also allowed me to evaluate the work setting, and see that my manager was micromanaging me even after she would delegate tasks. This influenced me to give my employees the freedom to work in their own style when I would later become a manager myself.”
Tell Me About a Time You Had to Manage an Unproductive Employee.
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
Part of being a manager is resolving problems, and often, particularly as a people manager, this means resolving the issue of an unproductive employee.
Ultimately, this question concerns how you create effective solutions and actionable steps. How do you problem-solve?
How to Answer:
Utilize the STAR method to flesh out your story here.
- Situation: Unproductive employee
- Task: Increase the employee’s productivity
- Action: How did you help improve the employee’s productivity? Did you increase accountability, have a one-on-one meeting, or give more actionable goals?
- Result: (ideally) your result will be that you increased the employee’s productivity
How Do You Establish Accountability Among Employees?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
An interviewer is likely asking you this question to learn more about your problem-solving skills.
They want to understand your ability to observe, actively listen, and communicate with employees. Companies want to foster a productive work environment, which means having leadership who can revitalize underperformers.
How to Answer:
When answering this question, consider sharing a specific example that shows how you have actively listened to your team members, resolved conflict, and boosted productivity.
This is where you want to show the interviewer that you are able to provide consistent guidance and support to employees to motivate productivity without taking over their work directly.
How Do You Manage a Diverse Group of People Who Have Different Personalities Than Your Own?
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
Effective leadership involves adaptability in the face of different situations and obstacles. Great leaders have a wide toolbelt of skills that they can utilize to achieve their own goals, their organizations' goals—all while helping their employees achieve their own.
This is particularly important when you’re managing a team of people with different personalities. Supporting and motivating different personality styles can make or break a team's productivity.
How to Answer:
This is where you can discuss specific examples of times when you had to possibly adapt your management style to support your employee(s) best.
Provide specific examples and show how you solved problems to identify the best solution.
Describe How You Foster Trust and Loyalty Among Employees.
Why the Interviewer is Asking:
Managers who can foster trust and loyalty with their employees are often the most effective (and beloved) managers. The interviewer will ask this question to gauge how you lead others and what you do to help cultivate this trust and respect.
How to Answer:
What do you do to be a good listener? Do you shut your laptop during meetings as much as possible, not check your phone while a team member stands at your desk, or summarize what they’ve said to confirm you’ve understood correctly?
If so, share those. Each task shows how you actually use active listening skills in action.
If you celebrate small wins or have a ritual to recognize your employee’s accomplishment, tell the interviewer!
Give concrete examples of how you facilitate a culture of trust and loyalty.
