Interview questions para managers.

Como follow-up al último post dejo aquí la lista de preguntas que yo suelo hacer a managers y también las que me han preguntado en diferentes entrevistas. Para cada pregunta tienes que tener en cuenta que cada empresa busca respuestas que están alineadas con sus valores o principios. Si vas a prepararte una entrevista siempre es buena idea leerlos, sobre todo para entender si encajas con su cultura, lo último que quieres hacer es trabajar en una empresa donde la gestión se hace de una manera completamente diferente a la tuya, a menos que busques precisamente aprender otras formas. Pero además de leerlos por eso, los debes leer para preparar las respuestas pensando en los principios que tienen. No estoy diciendo que mientas o te inventes las respuestas, sino que en las respuestas que des y los ejemplos que pongas intentes resaltar las situaciones donde se ve que tienes esos valores.
Todas las empresas los tienen públicos. Por ejemplo cabify, amazon…

Por cada pregunta también pongo las respuestas que busco, lo ideal es que por cada cosa que se mencione se detalle bien y con ejemplos:

What do you think the fundamental purpose of a manager is?

• Retention.
• Hiring.
• Development.
• Productivity.
• Accountability.
• Results oriented.

What are the main responsibilities of a manager?

• Set expectations.
• Set vision/mission.
• Create a sense of team/group.
• Help the members of your team to do their best at work.
• Remove roadblocks.
• Help to release value.
• Build a healthy environment.
• Create a development plan for each member.
• Be inclusive, and have empathy.

What is your philosophy about management?

Here you’re trying to see if the person aligns with your culture, values..For example, I truly believe in inclusive management and psychological safety. People need to feel safe, experiment and grow.

So I try to foster:

• Encourage everyone to participate.
• Create a development plan.
• Create a learning culture.
• Everyone makes mistakes, whether a manager or not. Be first admitting them openly.
• People have to feel free from fear, respected and with absolute freedom to speak up.
• We all are grown-up professionals. So give responsibility and freedom.

How do you develop your successor?

• Looking for opportunities to lead projects, meetings, etc.
• Delegate tasks and responsibilities incrementally.
• Identify gaps and set a plan to improve them.
• Provide constant feedback.

Why are you a manager?

• I love to develop people.
• Helping them to excel.
• I love to solve problems/conflicts.
• I enjoy working at strategic level.
• I enjoy having conversations with all type of audiences.
• …..

What do you think are some of the most common ways people fail at management?

• Not challenging high performers members.
• Not setting expectations.
• Not having 1–1 meetings often. You need to know the problems each member is having.
• Micromanagement. People need freedom and trust.
• Not being inclusive. As a manager sometimes you need to make decisions but at least you should listen to your team.
• Not having a development plan. People need to grow.
• Give value and release stuff. Otherwise, people get frustrated.
• ….

Y después tienes miles de preguntas (behavioral) en internet que puedes elegir, las típicas de dime una vez que…. por ejemplo:

• What has been the most challenging problem you have faced as a manager and how did you solve it?
• Tell me last time someone left your team and why? How do you communicate it?
• How do you communicate to the team that someone was fired?
• How many people have you managed in the past? And what were your responsibilities managing them?
• What was some difficult feedback you had to give recently? and why was it hard to deliver?
• What has been the most challenging problem you have faced as a manager and how did you solve it?
• Tell me about a time when you effectively managed your team to achieve a goal. What did your approach look like?
• Tell me a mistake you made that hurt the business.
• Tell me a time when you didn’t agree with your team and how you handle the situation.
• Was there ever a time you strongly disagreed with your manager or other authority figure? What was the situation, and how did you handle it without ruining any relationships (or were there bridges burned)?
• Tell me a time when you made a mistake and how you communicated it.
• Tell me about a few people on your team and the career development plans you created with them.
• How have you managed low performers? Tell me about a time you turned around a low performer.
• How do you deal with difficult team members?
• Describe a time when you and one of your reports disagreed on priorities. How did you handle the situation?

Una cosa muy útil es tener un google doc con un montón de estas preguntas, yo voy añadiendo cada vez que me hacen una pregunta nueva y las respuestas que daría. De esa forma preparar las entrevistas es mucho más fácil porque no tienes que estar recordando historias todo el rato. Y además también lo recomiendo como ejercicio de aprendizaje, porque así te sirve para recordar y reflexionar sobre momentos en los que cometiste errores o hicistes las cosas bien.