Q: How many people reported to you in your last position?

Q: Compare managerial styles of people you've reported to.

Q: How do you establish yourself when you're assuming a new management position?

Q: How closely do you tend to monitor your employees' work?

Q: How do you get people who report to you to give you their best performance?

Q: What techniques have you used to bring an underperforming employee up to speed?

Q: When do you think meetings are an appropriate use of time?

Q: Have you ever had to let an employee go?

Q: Tell me about the biggest challenge you've experienced as a manager.

Q: What do you find to be the most rewarding, and the most frustrating, aspects of managing people?

Q: What would you do if you were dealing with an angry customer?

Q: How would you rate your communication skills?

Q: What type of companies do you have experience with? What were their sizes in terms of sales revenue?

Q: Do you have experience with acquisitions, leveraged buyouts (LBOs), or initial public offerings (IPOs)? Do you have experience with 10K filings?

Q: Have you had direct involvement establishing company benefit programs, including insurance, 401(k) plans, or pension administration?

Q: Describe in detail improvements you've made in manufacturing, both in operating efficiency and in cost reduction.

Q: There are a number of different management styles, from authoritarian to team oriented. In your own experience, which management style do you find to be the most effective, and why?

Q: What's your opinion of the value of training at all levels of the organization? Describe training programs that you either initiated or participated in.

Q: Consider this hypothetical situation: One of the senior managers who reports to you has reached the top of her salary grade, and you are not able to give her a salary increase. How would you explain to that person that she's important to the company and keep her motivated in light of the fact that she's not getting a raise this year?

Q: Tell me about the last course of educational study or seminar that you attended on a particular business issue. What value did you get from it?

Q: In your experience, what type of organization is most effective in driving improvements and allowing you to manage effectively? For example, what managers ought to report to you, how would you relate to people in other departments, and so on?

Q: We ask more of people, at all levels, than we used to, so it's becoming more important every day to understand how they're feeling. What method do you use to make sure that you're aware of the feelings or concerns of those in your work force?

Q: How do you feel your present company treats its employees?

Q: This position is all about interacting with people. What are your best skills in this area?

Q: How important is recognition to you? What do you feel are the most and least effective ways to recognize people for a job well done, and why?

Q: Tell me some of the ways you might motivate the employees where you work.

Q: How would you describe your negotiating style?

Q: What are your feelings toward labor unions? What's the best way to handle unions?

Q: How do you stay current with changing labor laws?

Q: Consider this hypothetical situation: An important shipment for a key customer is ready and loaded on the truck. Just before the trailer is to be taken away, one of your supervisors reports to you that he believes there is possibly a defect on some of the merchandise in the trailer. This defect may not be immediately noticeable but has been mentioned by the customer in a previous complaint. What would you do?

Q: Consider this hypothetical situation: You arrive at work one morning to find that all of your manufacturing people are standing in a group outside their department, refusing to go to their workstations. They're protesting the firing of a coworker on the previous day. What would you do?

Q: What comments do you have regarding ISO-9000?

Q: What interests you about business analysis and strategic planning?

Q: Do you have any experience in an operations area such as insurance claims or customer service?

Q: Describe a business process that you determined wasn't value added.

Q: What's your approach to managing costs per hire?

Q: When you have an opening, do you tend to search for a candidate within the industry or outside it?

Q: How would you plan and organize a campus recruiting program?

Q: What kinds of talent recruitment and retention programs have you utilized to hire and maintain staff?

Q: How do you ease the difficulties of managing varying generations in your work force, such as in the case of a younger manager and a older employee?