0:01 the hardest part about becoming a
0:04 manager is that first interview getting
0:06 somebody to trust you to become a people
0:08 manager with no experience having done
0:11 it in the past I did this myself about 9
0:12 years ago in today's video I'm going to
0:14 give you some of the questions that
0:16 they're going to ask you in an interview
0:17 when you're going to become a firsttime
0:19 people manager also I've been in
0:21 recruitment for 15 years so I've asked
0:23 these questions many times I'm going to
0:25 teach you exactly what to say to answer
0:27 them let's go now the first one they're
0:28 going to ask you is tell me about
0:29 yourself this is something they're
0:31 always going to ask ask most people at
0:32 the beginning of an interview it's a
0:34 great Icebreaker question and gets
0:35 everybody into the spirit of
0:37 interviewing now when you want to answer
0:39 this question what you don't want to do
0:42 is give them your full biography right
0:44 like your full like life Journey they're
0:46 not looking for that what you should
0:48 view this as is a commercial it should
0:52 be about 60 to 90 seconds where you're
0:55 talking about your experience from the
0:58 earliest to the most recent but what you
1:00 want to do at the very end of it is End
1:02 by talking about how everything you have
1:04 done makes you a great for this position
1:06 right now right so you want to say I got
1:08 my education doing this my first couple
1:11 of jobs I was doing this after that I
1:13 was at this you know blah blah blah
1:14 right giving a little bit of detail
1:17 about responsibilities your jobs and
1:19 then you want to use that very end of
1:21 the interview question maybe the last
1:23 third of the time you're answering it so
1:25 if it's taking you 90 seconds to answer
1:28 it the last 30 seconds to package all
1:29 that up and to talk about why you're a
1:31 good fit for the job so the end of the
1:33 question might sound something like this
1:35 so my experience has positioned me
1:36 really well to be a good fit for this
1:39 I've spent the last 5 years of my career
1:41 basically climbing the ladder doing a b
1:43 and c which I see is a big part of this
1:45 role and it's why I feel like I would be
1:47 a really good fit for this world and
1:48 that's basically it you want to walk
1:50 them through conversationally
1:52 confidently with a little bit of
1:55 enthusiasm the things you've done from
1:57 earlier in your career to right now you
1:59 don't need to include everything but
2:00 include the things that are relevant to
2:02 the current job you're interviewing for
2:04 and end with why you'd be a good fit for
2:06 this job the next question is tell me
2:08 why you want to be a manager you know
2:11 this is a really interesting question
2:13 because what they're looking for here is
2:16 do you want to lead people or do you
2:19 want this job because it's the next
2:20 thing that you feel you need to do in
2:22 order to continue climbing the ladder in
2:24 your career now a lot of people don't
2:25 want to be a people manager but to
2:27 answer this question correctly you need
2:31 to have enthusiasm about how you enjoy
2:34 leading others now if you've never LED
2:36 people in the you know the corporate
2:37 environment you can talk about a variety
2:39 of things you can talk about leading
2:41 projects in other teams you can talk
2:42 about growing up how you were a captain
2:44 of sports teams if that's applicable
2:46 right but what you really want to do
2:49 here is just talk about how you love
2:53 leading others and you feel like it is a
2:55 good fit for your skills your
2:57 personality and your behaviors you know
2:59 for me I might answer the question like
3:01 this you know that's a really good
3:03 question and I would say growing up I've
3:04 always been someone who stepped into
3:06 leadership roles whether that was on
3:09 sports or in different academic projects
3:11 or even in my career so far leading
3:13 projects within my team not as a people
3:15 manager but just as someone stepping up
3:17 into a lead role it's always been
3:19 something that has motivated me I find
3:21 enjoyment of it and as I Look to what's
3:23 next in my career I'm really passionate
3:25 about stepping into that role and using
3:27 my gifts to lead others that's a great
3:29 way to answer why you would want to be a
3:31 people leader the next question is
3:33 what's your management style this is a
3:35 very common question this is asked in
3:37 just about every leadership interview
3:40 you're going to to do um what I would
3:41 say is do a little bit of research on
3:42 the company sometimes on a company
3:45 website they say things like servant
3:48 leadership um or they'll have different
3:51 um core values around leadership and
3:53 that could help inform your answer and
3:54 they could be part of what you mentioned
3:57 the interview process but if they don't
3:58 have that and this is just you
4:00 specifically talking about why you know
4:03 what your management style is like um I
4:05 would say find something that's
4:07 authentic to you but it needs to be
4:10 something that is passionate and said
4:12 with conviction right your management
4:14 style is an important part of who you
4:16 would be if they hired you into this
4:18 role and into their organization so you
4:19 might want to say things like you know
4:21 I'm the type of leader where I want open
4:24 and honest communication and I I lead in
4:27 a servant leadership uh style so what I
4:29 do is I view my job is okay what what do
4:31 I do to make sure that I'm putting my
4:34 people in position to succeed so I want
4:35 to make sure that I'm hiring great
4:37 people I'm training them and I'm
4:39 positioning them for success and I would
4:41 say that's the type of person I am you
4:43 know I'm I'm highly relational servant
4:45 leadership and I'm all about setting my
4:47 people up for the win something like
4:49 that that's a great way to answer this
4:50 question but find something that feels
4:53 authentic to you and ideally one that
4:56 coincides with their organizational
4:58 values this next question is direct and
4:59 you might get it and it's why should we
5:01 you as a manager with no experience and
5:03 if someone asks you this question one
5:05 don't be offended right this is just an
5:07 opportunity for you to sell yourself so
5:09 don't look at it as I'm second guessing
5:11 you look at it as you have an
5:14 opportunity to overcome what is the
5:15 biggest potential objection here you
5:17 don't have experienced something that is
5:19 highly specific why is that not a
5:21 concern and the things you might want to
5:22 say here is you might want to reference
5:23 some of the things we talked about
5:27 earlier that you've LED projects you've
5:29 um supervised other people you've been
5:31 the lead on different initiatives and
5:33 you've been successful doing that and
5:34 you enjoyed it so you might say
5:36 something along the lines of you know
5:38 that's a fair question and I would say
5:40 that well I haven't LED people in the
5:43 past yet I have a lot of the skills and
5:44 abilities and behaviors that I think
5:46 would make me a highly effective leader
5:48 you know in a lot of my career up to
5:50 this point I have led a variety of
5:53 different projects um I have supervised
5:55 uh other people's work while leading
5:57 projects and I feel like I really
6:00 enjoyed that and I was was able to get
6:01 the best out of people and it was really
6:03 motivating and in those experiences that
6:05 I've had we had a lot of success so for
6:07 me while I haven't directly managed
6:09 people in the past I do believe I have
6:11 the skills and abilities to succeed in
6:13 that role and the stuff I've done up to
6:14 this point in my career that is
6:16 leadership adjacent has gone incredibly
6:18 well and I really enjoyed it that's a
6:19 great way to answer this question you
6:21 know it's not someone who's offended
6:23 you're not taken back you acknowledge
6:24 what they're saying is a fair thing to
6:26 ask and then you counter it with
6:29 reasonable objections to their concern
6:30 this next question question is how would
6:32 you handle a low performer on your team
6:33 now this is something that is bound to
6:35 happen if you're going to manage people
6:36 eventually you're going to have someone
6:38 who doesn't perform and I think it's
6:41 really important to walk them through a
6:43 cohesive plan on how you would deal with
6:45 someone now as someone who is a people
6:47 leader I can tell you first and foremost
6:49 you need to find out what is happening
6:52 and make sure that you understand their
6:54 situation secondarily you need to make
6:56 sure they understand the objectives that
6:58 they are being tasked with meeting so if
6:59 they're falling below those objectives
7:01 they need Clarity what are they tasked
7:03 with doing on a day-to-day basis and
7:05 where are they falling short so that you
7:06 give them time to improve and then you
7:09 want to help them to hopefully turn it
7:11 around and Achieve those objectives But
7:13 ultimately if they can't do that then
7:14 you need to move on because that's
7:17 what's best for the organization and
7:18 ultimately what's best for the team
7:20 you're tasked with leading so I would
7:22 just find a way to say that articulate
7:23 that in a way that sounds authentic to
7:25 you but that is what you need to say the
7:27 next question is how would you handle a
7:29 conflict between two members of your
7:30 team this is the type of thing that
7:32 might happen quite a bit as a people
7:35 manager some of it is handling projects
7:36 but a lot of it is just understanding
7:38 people Dynamics and leading through
7:40 difficult moments so having two people
7:42 on your team who are in conflict is
7:44 something that could happen so in
7:46 answering this question you know you
7:48 want to make sure that you convey to
7:50 them that it wouldn't be something that
7:53 would be um overly threatening to you
7:54 right like that's something you'd be
7:57 comfortable dealing with and you want to
7:58 talk about past experience you have
8:01 mediating things if you've done that but
8:03 for me if I'm answering this question it
8:04 would probably sound a little bit like
8:06 this you know that's a great question
8:09 and I think the key to any sort of
8:10 conflict in the workplace if you're
8:12 trying to resolve it is trying to
8:14 understand the points of views of the
8:16 two people so as a manager what I would
8:17 do is I would take the people aside one
8:19 by one and I would talk to them and I
8:21 would try to understand their version of
8:23 the story exactly what happened now
8:25 through getting their perspectives
8:26 assuming they'd be a little bit
8:28 different I try to figure out where the
8:30 middle ground is understand the
8:32 situation uh and see if I could help
8:33 them work through it and serve as a
8:36 mediator through whatever it is now if
8:37 in that Discovery I found out that one
8:39 person is clearly in the wrong and
8:42 they've done something um that is an
8:44 issue and requires disciplinary action I
8:47 would then do that um but most of the
8:48 time I think the conflicts can be
8:50 handled just by taking the time to
8:51 listen to everybody and helping them
8:53 work through an issue a lot of people
8:56 lack conflict resolution skills and just
8:57 by having someone in there with a cool
8:59 head who can listen to both people and
9:01 help them work towards common ground
9:03 that can often solve it and there you go
9:05 saving something like that is a good way
9:06 to answer this interview question if you
9:08 can do that the recruiter will assume
9:10 that you have done a really good job and
9:11 that you'd be someone who is well
9:12 positioned to be a leader for their
9:14 organization now the next thing I want
9:16 you to do is I want you to understand
9:18 that a final interview is different than
9:20 a beginning interview even for a people
9:21 manager role and it's why I made this
9:24 video here this video here talks about
9:26 the final interview and what is
9:28 different about that interview than the
9:29 others that way you can be prepared for
9:31 it so I'm done here I'll see you over there
