How To Prepare For Your First Management Interview (2022)

In this tutorial, I will teach you how to prepare for your first management interview or leadership position. If you have a job interview coming up for your first manager, team leader or supervisor role. Make sure you stay tuned because I promise to help you pass it. And just very quickly, if you are new to the website, make sure you visit all my posts because I can keep you updated with all the latest interview tips, strategies and top scoring answers.

Let’s jump straight into the presentation.

To help you pass your first ever management or leadership interview, I will cover the following three things during this tutorial.

Number one, I will give you five really important tips to help you pass your interview. Now you do not want to miss these tips because they are crucial to your success.
Number two, I will tell you the exact management words and phrases you must use during your first ever management or leadership interview to show the hiring manager you have what it takes to succeed in the role.
Finally, number three. I will give you some example answers to the interview questions that are highly likely going to come up during your first ever management or leadership interview.

Let me now give you five really important tips for passing your first ever management or leadership interview.

Tip number one

Make sure you are prepared for hypothetical and situational interview questions. Questions such as, How would you deal with an underperforming member of your team and how would you deal with conflict between two team members are going to come up during your first ever management or leadership interview and later on during this tutorial, I will tell you exactly how to answer these difficult interview questions.

Tip number two

Tip number two is to speak like a manager during your interview.
Now, during your job interview, I recommend you use certain corporate buzzwords and phrases that show the hiring manager you are already thinking like management.
There are 12 corporate words and phrases you can use in your answers to the interview questions that will help you come across as a ready made leader.

Let’s take a look of those 12 words and phrases.

Number one is strategic vision. Now, Strategic Vision is the company’s overall plan of action to help it achieve its business and commercial objectives.
Number two is diversity and inclusion. Now, great leaders and managers understand the importance of diversity and inclusion, so diversity is recognizing, respecting and valuing differences in people within a team or an organization, and inclusion is making sure everyone in your team gets access to all opportunities and resources.
Number three is commercially focused. Now, if you are commercially focused, you concentrate your efforts as a manager or a leader on helping the business achieve its core objectives. Now, the core objectives of a business are usually to increase revenue and profits.
Number four is the word delegate. Now, as a manager, when you delegate, you are assigning tasks and responsibilities to your team members based on their strengths.
Number five is return on investment. This is a really good one to use during your first ever management or leadership interview. Now, return on investment means you make sure the business sees a positive return from its actions, its activities and its expenditure.
The six word to use is synergy. Now, synergy is making sure as a manager or a leader, your team works collaboratively and in harmony with each other to complete all projects and tasks.
Number seven is customer experience or customer journey. Now, all businesses need happy customers, and as a manager and a leader, it will be your responsibility to make sure the customer experience and journey are first class all of the time.
Number eight is gap analysis. Now, Gap Analysis is assessing the progress of a project and then determining as the manager or the leader what needs to be done or which resources need to be allocated to it to get it finished on time and to the required standard.
The ninth phrase to use during your management or leadership interview is value for money now. He is making sure the business’s resources are used responsibly and wisely.
Number 10 is team values and culture. Now, all good teams should have a positive workplace culture that encourages inclusive working and values that everyone believes in and signs up to.
Number 11 is the word stakeholders now stakeholders and partners, or people or organizations that have a vested interest in the company you are working for now, which is vital as a manager or a leader that you build good relationships at all times with stakeholders and partners.
Number 12 is KPIs or key performance indicators. Now, KPIs are essentially targets and objectives you need to work towards to help the company achieve its commercial objectives. Now, an example of a KPI could be to attract to set new number of customers in a particular month. There’s 12 management and leadership buzzwords and phrases you can use in your forthcoming interview to show the hiring manager you are already thinking like a leader and a manager.

Tip number three

Tip number three is to highlight any previous experience you have where you have shown leadership initiative. Now, although you haven’t yet held a management or leadership position, I recommend you give examples in your interview where you have shown leadership initiative. Now this might be where you have helped a team member develop a specific skill where you came up with an idea to improve the efficiency of a business or where you used your initiative to overcome a challenging problem so when the interviewer says to you, why should we hire you? You could say this.

You should hire me because I believe I already have what it takes to be a successful manager and leader. For example, more recently, I helped a co-worker develop their computer skills, which improved their performance at work. I also took the initiative several weeks ago, and I found a new supplier for the business because I was concerned the old one was letting us down and this was impacting negatively on our valued customers experience.

You can see that by giving examples of where you have already shown leadership and management initiative, you will significantly increase your chances of success.

Tip number four

Tip number four is to know your leadership style before you attend your job interview. Now, although you haven’t yet held a management or leadership position, you should have an idea of the type of leader and manager you are going to be. Now, during your interview, there is a strong possibility you will have to answer the tough interview question What is your leadership style? Now there are seven different leadership styles, and these are autocratic democratic pace setting, coaching, transformational, laissez-faire and affiliated. To answer the interview question, What’s your leadership style, read this article when you are ready.

Tip number five

Tip number five is to make sure you ask the right questions at the end of your management or leadership interview. At the end of your job interview, you will have the chance to ask some questions of your own. Whatever you do, do not ask questions about salary benefits or the perks of the job. Instead, ask questions that show you are keen to get started that you want to excel in the role of a manager or a leader, and that you genuinely want their business to be successful so let me now give you three great questions you can ask at the end of your first ever management or leadership interview.

Question number one is what are the challenges facing the business right now and how could I help you to overcome them in this role? That’s a really good question.
Question number two is what are the plans for the company over the next five to 10 years? Now, that’s a great question, because it tells the hiring manager you plan to stay working for their company for a long period of time.
And question number three is what advice would you give to a new manager who wants to excel in this position?

Let’s now move on and take a look at several example management and leadership interview questions. I recommend you prepare for, including top scoring answers.

Question number one

The first question that I recommend you prepare for your first ever management or leadership interview is, tell me about yourself now, because this is going to be the first question you have to answer. It is imperative you get your interview off to a flying start. Give a response that shows you how confident in your abilities you have the skills and qualities to the job description and don’t forget to use some of those management buzzwords and phrases I gave you earlier on. Here’s a great example answer to that first management and leadership interview question, Tell me about yourself. Here we go.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity today. Over the years, I have been working towards becoming a manager and a leader. I have attended several training development courses to help enhance my skills.
I have watched carefully the managers I’ve worked under to learn how to lead, and I have read numerous books on the subject of leadership.
Now, the skills and qualities I possess include being commercially aware, not being afraid to make difficult decisions that are in the best interests of your business and ensuring all staff embrace the already established values and culture of the company.
Now, because I have a firm and consistent style of leadership, you can rely on me to always put the needs of the business first and to make sure you maintain your position as a market leader.
Finally, if you hire me in this position, I will help the business achieve its strategic vision. I will develop my team to ensure they reach their full potential, and I will make sure the company continually sees a positive return from its activities, investments and expenditure.

Question number two

I strongly recommend you prepare for is, how would you deal with conflict between two co-workers? Now this question comes up often during management and leadership interviews. In your answer show you are the type of manager and leader who sets high standards and who is not afraid to tackle conflict whenever it happens to prevent it from escalating into a serious problem. Let’s take a look at a brilliant, top scoring answer to help you. How would you deal with conflict between two coworkers? Here we go.

If I become your manager, one of the first things I will do is sit down with my team and lay out my expectations. Now, what of my expectations is that I want everyone to work collaboratively and to put any personal differences aside. However, if I do notice conflict between two co-workers, I will let them know.
I am aware of it and I will encourage them as responsible adults to resolve it themselves. I will then monitor the situation moving forward if they are unable to resolve the conflict. I will step in and facilitate its resolution.
I will sit down with the coworkers and I will establish the root cause of the conflict and I will explain the steps I want them to take to resolve it quickly for the sake of the team.

Question number three

I strongly recommend you prepare for is, how would you deal with an underperforming member of your team? This is a difficult one. Now, a big mistake often made by new managers and leaders is to turn a blind eye to underperformance. However, whenever you notice a member of your team underperforming, you should tackle it straight away because this sends a message to the entire team that you are a confident manager who expects high standards to always be maintained. Let’s take a look at a top scoring answer to that question to help you pass your interview, How would you deal with an underperforming member of your team? Here we go.

I would deal with underperformance straight away. If you ignore it, it cannot only escalate into a bigger problem, but it also sets a bad example for the rest of your team.
Now, to deal with it, I would speak to the team member in private to establish the cause of their underperformance, and I would ask them questions to find out the exact problem.
Now they may be having issues in their personal life, or they may feel they have not received the right level of training.
Whatever the cause of the problem was, I would put a plan of action in place to get them back up to speed quickly and then support them moving forward.

Question number four

Interview question number four is, what will you do in the first 30 days of starting in this role? Now this question comes up often during first time management and leadership interviews. It is assessing whether you have a plan in place or whether you are the type of person who is likely going to need lots of guidance and support moving forward. Because if you do need lots of guidance and support, you are less likely to get hired. Here’s my top scoring example answer to help you. What will you do in the first 30 days of starting in the role? Here we go.

I already have a plan of action in place of what I will do in the first 30 days of starting as your manager and leader.
I will sit down with you, the senior management team, to obtain a full brief of the business objectives and the strategic vision of the company. I will then watch my team for the first week and observe their performance.
This will allow me to establish their strong point and the areas I feel they can improve on, I will then sit down with my team and lay out my expectations.
I believe it’s really important to set the bar high, so everyone fully understands what is expected of them now at some stage during the first few weeks of starting in the role.
I will carry out performance reviews with all members of staff to get to know them better, to identify their strengths and weaknesses and to establish their training needs. I will then monitor and direct the team moving forward to ensure the business succeeds.

That’s how you can prepare for your first management interview.

The next thing to do if you want to accelerate your learning even further and you want to make sure you pass your first ever management or leadership interview is head through my website and you can find more articles of interview questions and top scoring answers, including the ones I gave you today. It’s a fantastic resource, and you can have it with you. Make sure you check that out.

It’s always great to connect with like minded professionals such as yourself. Thank you very much for reading, and I wish you all the best for passing your first ever manager or leadership interview. Have a great day!