Senior Management Interviews – Sample Questions

1 Senior Management Interviews SampleQuestionsSenior Management Interviews - Sample interview QuestionsThese Sample Questions should provide you with some ideas as to questionsthat might be asked to draw outacandidates s capabilities against arange ofcommon competences associated with any relatively Senior Management AreaRequirementsSample Questions1. Writing SkillsWriting reports, business plans, businessemails/letters, promotional literature, etc. What type of writing have you donein your previous positions?What makes youbelievethat you are good at it? In your opinion, what are the mainchallenges when preparing written communicationsof all types?

2 What positive and negative feedback have you received about your writing skills? Givean example where one of your reports was criticised. How do you plan the writing of a report?2. Presentation SkillsDelivering talks and using PowerPoint andother Visual Aids effectively whenpresenting to groups What experience have you had in delivering presentations? What feedback have youreceived on your performance? What do you think is your greatest strength as a presenter? Weakness? How do you prepare for an important presentation?3. Project Management SkillsTaking ownership for, and effectivelymanaging projects Tell me about your experience of project managementtodate give me a specificexample of a time when you have managed a you were to plan thatproject again, is there anything that you would dodifferently?

3 Describe a situation where one of your projects suffered a setback due to anunexpected change in circumstances. How did you keep things on track? What tools and resources do you use to help you manage projects? How do you prepare and monitor an appropriate budget for any given project?4. Problem Solving and DecisionMaking SkillsAnalysing problems, using structuredproblem solving techniques and makingeffective decisions Tell me a littleabout the most challengingproblem that you have had to solvein awork situation?How did you devise and implement asolution? Tell meabout a decision that you made, which you knew would be unpopular with agroup of people.

4 How did you handle the decision-making process and howdid youmanage expectations? How doyou enlist support of your staff to establish a common approach tosolvingaproblem? What was one of the most difficult decisions that you ever had to make? SkillsManaging large multi-level teams withrespect to setting goals and priorities andachieving results What strengths do you think you have that makes others look up to you? How do you think your employees would describe working for you? What do you thinkemployees are looking for from work-life today? How do you get thebest out of your employees? Give us an example of where you had to deal withconflict within your team.

5 How didyou manage the situation? What would you do differentlynext time? What type ofresponsibilities do you delegate?Give examples of projects where youmade best use of InnovationDefining and managing processes formanaging innovation Tell usa littleabout a project or situation where you felt that the conventionalapproach would not be suitable. Whatchallenges did you face and how did youaddress them?How did you define a new or better way of doing things? What do you believe are the important elements of an effective process for managinginnovation within a business? Howin thepast have youinvolvedyour employees in comingup with new ideas andapproaches?

6 7. CommunicationAbilityto communicate effectively withmultiple stakeholders What experience have you had communicating with diverse stakeholder groups? Describe a situation where you were able to influence others on an important issue. How do you prepare for an important meeting? What do you feel arethe most important steps to taketo get the best from yourmeetings? What do you think your past colleagues would say about you as regards yourability tocommunicate?8. Information Management andICT SkillsCapability to analyse and assimilateinformation and the effective use of ICTresources What IT Software are you competent in using? Given me an example of where you think IT could be more effectively applied inyourcurrent rolethan it is at present?

7 9. Managing ChangeChampioning and managing changethroughout the business Tell meabout the biggest changein a work situationthat you have had did you cope with it? What do you believe are themost critical steps totake when managing any change? What are some of the pitfalls to avoid? ManagementDeveloping and maintaining partnershipswith internal andexternal stakeholders Who do you see as the main stakeholdersfor our businessand what do you believe aretheirprioritiesneeds and expectations? Howwouldyou set about establishing/improvingcommunication withthesestakeholders? How would you measure the effectiveness of those efforts? Describe a project where you needed to involve input fromkey stakeholders.

8 How didyoumanage those relationships? How would you establish rapport withothers who donot report to you but from whomyou must obtaininput/support to help you achieve your goals? AwarenessUnderstanding the internal and externalbusiness environments How do youkeepup-to-date withlocal, national, and international trendsinourindustry? What do you think will be some of the critical trends that you would need to be awareof in relation to your new role? What partnerships/alliances do you think will be vital in achieving your goals in thenew role?12. LeadershipDeveloping and sharing a vision for thebusiness and capability to lead others in thedesired direction Whatdo you thinkare the fundamentals to successfully leading anybusiness?

9 How would you describe your leadership style? Give specific examples of how youapply this style? Describe a project or situationwhere you had to use different leadership styles to reachyour goal. Have there ever been situations whereyou were less successful as a leader than youwould have wanted to be? What did you learn from those events? What, in your opinion, are the critical factors that can help build effectiveorganisations? How would you best motivate a team to deliverthedesired results?13. Achievement OrientationStriving to meet goals and objectives withinagreed deadlines, facilitates and seeks toimplement agreed decisions Tell us about arecent accomplishment that demonstrates a success in yourpresentposition Give an example of a time you worked under heavy stress and the sacrifices you madeto achieve a certain goal?

10 What would you intend to accomplish in the first year of your position? What criteria do you use to determine your own personal effectiveness? How do you handle a heavy workload? PlanningExpertise indevising and implementingbusiness strategy What experience have you had to date in developing and implementing strategy? Tellus a little bit about how that worked in practice? What do you think are the key strategic goals associated with this role? How would you intend to measure strategiceffectiveness if you were successful inattaining this post?15. Negotiation SkillsNegotiating effectively with a range ofinternal and external stakeholders Give an example where you used yournegotiating skills toachieve an outcomethatwas in everyone s best interest?