Interviewing sales managers: how to choose the best one. How to interview for a leadership position

To paraphrase a well-known aphorism, we can say: whoever controls the information controls the interview situation.

Before you go to the office, find out:

• with whom you will talk: with the boss, the head of the HR department or his ordinary employee;
• interview format (group or individual, question-answer or self-presentation);
• dress code and things you need to have with you (documents, gadgets, etc.);
• how to get there (being late is unacceptable).

The company website or a call to the office will help you find out.

Map out answers to common questions

Interviews when applying for a job are of the same type and at the same time not similar to each other. Many have heard about stressful interviews, where they can suddenly start shouting at the applicant in order to unsettle him. There are also so-called case interviews: the applicant is placed in certain circumstances (for example, a conversation with a dissatisfied client) and observed how he solves the problem.

It is not always possible to find out what type of interview is preferred in a particular company, so you need to be prepared for anything.

To do this, make a card with answers to typical questions and requests (they are asked in 99.9% of cases):

• top 5 of your main advantages;
• what are you good at;
• strategic directions of self-development;
• proposals for the company's work;
• your life and work philosophy;
• your short and long term goals;
• unusual problems that you had to solve.

You should also prepare in advance a list of topics that you would like to discuss with the HR manager.

Interpret the employer's questions

"A" doesn't always mean "A", and two and two don't always mean four. Recruiters sometimes ask insidious questions, where behind a simple wording lies a cunning plan - to force the applicant to say more than he should.

A simple question: “What wages would you like to receive? But the answer helps the interviewer understand your motivation: money, social guarantees, work schedule, etc. If you are asked whether you have had conflicts with management and how you resolved them, then most likely the HR manager wants to know whether you are inclined to take responsibility or are accustomed to shifting it to others.

There are many tricky questions. You need to be able to see the “double bottom” (without fanaticism!).

Think about your nonverbal behavior

HR managers are people, not automatons. They, like everyone else, pay attention to non-verbal signs: appearance, facial expressions, gait, gestures, etc. An experienced professional may be rejected only because he behaved incorrectly.

Think about your body language in advance. If you habitually jerk your leg out of excitement, then sit cross-legged. If you tap your fingers on the table, try using something to occupy your hands, such as a ballpoint pen.

HR managers are people, not automatons. They understand that you are worried. But naturalness in nonverbal communication will increase your credibility.

Set taboos on certain topics

“Tell me about yourself,” asks the interviewer. “I was born on April 2, 1980 (according to the horoscope Taurus). In his youth he played football and was captain of the city team. Then he graduated from the institute…” - if the applicant’s story is something like this, he won’t see the position like his ears.

There are things that are absolutely uninteresting to an employer and that in no way characterize you as a professional. In the example given, this is the year of birth (this can be read in the resume), zodiac sign and sporting achievements.

There are topics that you need to taboo for yourself:

• summary summary;
• personal life goals(buy a house, have children, etc.);
• reputation of the company and its employees;
• skills and experience that are not related to future work (I cook well, understand plumbing, etc.);
• failures that demonstrate incompetence.

Just as you made a plan of what you will talk about, write down and remember the topics to ignore. Also think about how to answer correctly if you are asked about it.

Contemplate to calm down

An interview is a nerve-wracking affair. You can forget your name, not to mention demonstrating your business skills.

To calm down, look around. Inspect the office, equipment, employees. The details will tell you a lot about the company where you are going to work, and their analysis will help normalize your nervous system.

Looking critically at the firm and future colleagues can increase your sense of self-importance. Remember: the company needs a good employee as much as you need a good job.

Take the initiative

In an interview, as a rule, there comes a moment when the interviewer and interviewee change places and the applicant has the opportunity to ask questions that interest him.

Don’t waste time on useless “Will you call me or should I call you back?”, “Why is this position open?” and so on. Show yourself as a proactive employee. Ask:

• Does the company have any current problem? How do you think I can help you?
• Could you describe what you envision as an ideal candidate for this position?
• What advice would you give to someone starting to work at your company?

There are also a number of questions that are not recommended to be asked. Click on the button below to tell us which ones.

Following these tips will prepare you for your interview and increase your chances of getting hired.

Any extras? Write them in the comments.

Any startup that has passed the infancy stage sooner or later gains momentum. And if earlier the owner was able to cope with planning, organizing and controlling sales on his own, then at the stage of adolescence, a department of 2-5 managers is covered with a wave of organizational disorder. Documents are lost, client contacts disappear, deal negotiations fade into oblivion. You also need to plan, analyze and generate ideas for sales development.

The founders decide to hire an experienced manager, the head of the sales department, who will systematize the work of the department and will be able to bring sales to new level.

The decision is not easy. In addition to the additional costs for workplace and wages, you will have to spend energy and time setting up interaction with the new employee.

And the main question on the agenda is how to find someone who will really be useful to the company?; What criteria are used to determine that he has the necessary set of knowledge and skills?; How to avoid making the wrong choice during interviews?

My experience working with young companies allowed me to draw one important conclusion: a company should test 2-5 managers before finding “the one.”

To ensure that the experience of setting up a sales management system with new managers is the least painful and most productive for the company, it is worth weeding out completely unsuitable candidates already at the stage of selecting candidates. A manager may be an excellent professional, but will not fit into the owner’s management style. Or, in previous places of work, his performance depended on the stability of the system, and in a company that is at the development stage, he will not be able to cope with stress and multitasking. Or it turns out that his experience does not correspond to the company’s tasks.

Stage 1. Selection of candidates based on resumes

For a sales manager, it is important to have achievement motivation (orientation towards results, not process). In a resume, motivation is read quite simply. High achievers write with verbs perfect form: achieved, done, completed, implemented, etc. Process workers are more often engaged in “doing” - organizing activities, implementing plans, motivating employees, etc.

Select a resume that contains numbers and indicators. For example, I increased my client base by 25%. Managers who know how to work with metrics will bring more value.

Industry experience is preferred but not required. Selling in the B2B and B2C sectors is different and requires additional time to learn and adapt. And industry specialization also affects the type of decision-making and the ability to build relationships with clients.

Pay attention to the qualities that the candidate identified as his strengths.

If you are: responsible, sociable and stress-resistant, then you don’t have to be distracted. These qualities are not strengths for the leader. We don't think strong quality grocery store- availability of fresh products. These competencies are those required for a managerial position.

Candidates from the remaining pile can be invited for an interview.

Stage 2. Selection of candidates based on interview results

I have repeatedly observed how owners made the same mistake during interviews. They didn't ask questions to try to get the real picture, but rather involved the candidate in their goals. It often looks like this:

- But we also want to implement a CRM system, we want it to be possible to conduct statistics and analytics on the client base. Do you know how to do all this?

- Yes, sure. I will do everything.

- Oh cool! And we also need this..!

After such an interview, the candidate who made the maximum number of promises will win.

Use the time allotted for the interview to understand the level of professionalism, type of decision-making, motivation and ability to take responsibility. Stress resistance is also not determined by an item on a resume.

In my deep youth, I had an interview at a large engineering holding. The interview was conducted by the Marketing Director. Entering his office at the appointed time, I found him working with several employees. Without looking at me special attention, he gave a stack of paper a centimeter high and said: “Write.” And I sat down to write while he was finishing the RAM. Then I realized that my questions like: “What should I write?” would be inappropriate. Writing what is written on your resume means putting an end to your career in this holding company. Therefore, I wrote what mistakes I made in my career, how I eliminated them and what conclusions I drew. It was a test of stress and originality of thinking.

It is better to start the interview with general issues about the candidate. He should already know about the company if he came for an interview.

The question “Tell me about yourself to make me interested” is a great place to start. If a potential manager captivates you, then he can captivate employees and clients. If there is nothing interesting besides work, you will be forced to constantly motivate and involve him. He is not interested in himself.

While he talks about himself, ask clarifying questions. If he talks about his qualities, ask for an example. From the example you will find out whether this is a manifestation of the required quality that is necessary for your company.

- I'm very responsible.

- Tell us the last time you showed responsibility.

- Well, the management has set an urgent task to invite all clients to the promotional event. There was only one day to do everything, and there were 500 clients. We definitely couldn’t get by with phone calls. Therefore, I sent out a mailing asking for a response to the invitation within an hour. 30% of clients responded. And the rest have already been called.

This leader truly showed a sense of responsibility. He explained in detail what he did, how and why.

Be sure to find out what he considers his achievements and why for him they are achievements. This way you will understand his motivation and level of ambition.

Don't forget to ask about the errors that led to negative consequences and how he fixed the problems. It is important to learn about the conclusions he made and how he applied the conclusions in his work. Based on the answers, you will see the type of decision-making, the level of responsibility, professional expertise, and logic in thinking.

After general questions, move on to the professional section. You don't have to strictly adhere to the structure. Just have a dialogue and use my recommendations as a checklist.

A good transition to professional issues after discussing the candidate's achievements.

• Through what decisions were you able to achieve results? The answers provide insight into the ability to plan a solution. Tell us how you manage your sales department. We look at whether the manager knows how to build business processes.
• What is the sales funnel in your company? There is no need to force disclosure of commercial information. Relative indicators are enough. It is important to understand the stages of the sales funnel and the conversion from one stage to another.
• How did you encourage customers to make repeat purchases?
• What sales department structure is optimal for our company? This question allows you to understand whether the potential manager has learned about your company and whether he is able to offer a solution.
• How do you motivate sales managers? It would be good to discuss both the motivation system and non-material methods.
• What do you do when your sales plan is not met?
• What is the best way to intercept customers from competitors?
• How did you inform customers about new products or services?
• What was the average increase in your client base under your management?
• What will the company you are leaving lose after your dismissal? An important question that reflects the manager’s ability to set up a system. If his answer is: “Yes, in general, everything will fall for them,” then this is not our person)). If he says: “Nothing will be lost. I implemented the system, it works. Unless there are temporarily no new ideas,” this is our option!
• What will our company gain if you lead sales? This is where you look at his plans.
• What methods do you use to collect and manage your customer base?
• By what indicators do you evaluate the success of the sales department?

Ask questions like these until you have a consistent image.

In the final part of the interview, ask the candidate to ask you questions.

From them you will determine how much he is on topic. Whether he is interested in the details of your business and company structure or not. The right manager will bombard you with questions because it is important for him to understand whether he can achieve your goals. If there are no questions, wish me luck and send to competitors)).

After the interview, call former employers and ask their opinion of the candidate. It is important to hear not only what they say, but also how they say it. The questions can be asked identically. If you realize that the employer’s answers differ from the candidate’s, ask why there may be discrepancies in the statements.

IRINA OSTROVSKAYA,HR Generalist at Baltic Textiles company From personal experience, what is worth considering (without going into details): Understand what results need to be obtained, over what period of time or what problems to solve. Be sure to write down everything point by point on paper. Do it together with the head of the company. You don't always need the best specialist on the market - you need the right one for a specific company. To do this, it is necessary to honestly take into account the characteristics of the company (specifics of management, size of the company, prospects, team, market, etc.). Make a list of interview questions, preferably dividing them by competencies or “areas” that are important to you. You should definitely include a question about personal achievements and personal motivation at work. Write down a description of the candidate, then the requirements for the candidate; you may have to adjust the list after each interview until you understand that the list of requirements is the most “adequate”. Cases are very helpful, they are quite simple to create, you describe the problem from real life company and ask them to propose a solution, then the only task is to carefully observe. Don't let the candidate get lost in spatial reasoning. There is no need to be afraid to communicate with completely different candidates (choose different ones in terms of experience, field of activity, gender, age, etc.), this way you can understand which type of candidates is the most suitable.

Any sales person has already prepared all kinds of answers for you, believe me. And sometimes their answer will be ahead of the question you’ve already put in your head Exclamation point, and, you have fallen into a mousetrap. What I advise you: DETAILS and NO PATTERNS! Clear questions about certain groups of goods sold (raw materials, services...). You continue torturing him for a long time and tediously, writing down on paper all the announced numbers. Look at the reaction, how is he? Floats, flies, sinks... Questions about subordinates. Who did you train? How much? etc. And at the end, a direct question: how many phone numbers of your students (or subordinates) can you provide? The reaction will surprise you...) I repeat, my main advice: DETAILS and NO PATTERNS!

We wish you productive interviews and professional employees!

If the task of conducting an effective selection of candidates is relevant to you and you need my help, order a free consultation or service to support the search and hiring of managers from me.

I will help you draw up a vacancy for the position, together with you I will review all resumes and show you which ones are suitable for the next stage, and I will take part in the interview.

For several candidates, I will conduct interviews myself, and you will observe. Then you will conduct, and I will observe and participate. I will provide detailed feedback for each candidate.

We can work via Skype or in your office.

In addition, I will help draw up a plan for the manager during the probationary period.

The more responsible the position, the more carefully candidates are selected. Very high demands are placed on managers of all ranks. These people will have to manage the team in conditions of constant change and development of the market.

How to pass an interview for a manager position?

In order to successfully pass an interview for leadership position, make a self-preparation plan. Determine the exact goal of your job search, how to achieve it, and move on to studying the labor market.

Select a sector of activity, evaluate the prospects for business development in the region or country. Select the types of companies, the management level you are applying for (higher or middle). Rate general level salaries, professional requirements. Then move on to researching specific vacancies.

Do you have a goal to pass an interview for a management position?

Interview questions for managers: what is being assessed?

Any interview will be built around basic management functions:

• Planning
• Organization
• Motivation
• Control
• Delegation/Coordination

Planning

The employer is interested in your ability to create an effective work plan for yourself and your employees. Typical planning questions:

• “What methods do you use to make plans?”
• “What planners do you use?”
• “Do you know how to work in accounting and project management programs?”

Remember what happened in your previous position. Maybe you were just implementing the plans of your superiors? New job may require more independence.

Many firms practice collegial planning. Team members make their proposals, discuss them, and the leader approves the project. The approach is typical for young, creative companies and start-ups. Consider whether you are ready for such planning.

Pay attention to task managers (computer schedulers). A mandatory requirement is to know project management programs (examples: Bitrix, Megaplan), CRM systems for working with clients.

Each area of ​​business has special management and accounting programs. Find out about them, select the ones you need. Have you never used something like this or are you lagging behind the market? Take training courses. Establish useful communication in in social networks and forums, subscribe to specialist profiles.

Organization

Being a good organizer is the first commandment of a manager. Key interview questions for a leadership position:

• “How did you organize your work at your previous place, what did you achieve?”

A business employer will definitely ask how quickly you can respond to changes. For example:

• “During task B, difficulty b1 arose. What will you do to achieve goal A?

Motivation

Motivate – answer a subordinate’s question “Why should I do this task?” and push him to work. You will need remarkable knowledge of psychology, the ability to communicate effectively, apply different styles guidelines depending on the situation.

Questions about motivation:

• “What methods of motivating employees do you consider effective? Why?"
• “Which management style is closer to you: authoritarian, democratic, liberal?”
• “While working on task C, employee A failed to complete the plan for the day. How will you motivate your subordinate?

Here the recruiter can ask clarifying questions and put forward additional conditions for the task.

Do you want to successfully interview for a management position in a company? Participate in motivational trainings, subscribe to online publications and newsletters on psychology and management, watch webinars and videos on the topic.

Control

Knowledge of control systems is a mandatory requirement for those who want to interview for the position of head of a department or organization. The employer is interested in what, when and how you will supervise employees within a specific task.

Coordination and delegation

A good coordinator's team acts as a single, well-coordinated mechanism. No one gets out of line, no one pulls the blanket over themselves. All actions are coordinated and subordinated to a common task. Are you capable of achieving such department performance? Then the interview for the position of director will be successful.

A question about delegation might sound like this:

• “Goal A, tasks B, C, D have been set. How will you distribute them among employees 1,2,3,4?”

Effective communication

Your ability to be a good manager will be noticed already during preliminary communication. A portrait of a future manager – a well-written resume, completed profiles on social networks. Make sure there is no compromising information there.

Study vacancies carefully. Keep an eye on quality email correspondence with employers. Save information about resumes sent: to whom, when they were sent. Anything you need to clarify, clarify without delay.

Before communicating by phone or video, make a plan for the conversation. Get plenty of rest and get yourself in order so you look confident and calm.

Prepare your own questions to ask during an interview for a management position. Maintain balance confident behavior and goodwill. The interlocutor should feel in you a person capable of controlling the communication situation.

More and more serious requirements are being placed on applicants for managerial positions. After all, the prosperity of the company and the well-being of all employees largely depend on the members of the management team.

Firstly, Before meeting with the recruiting manager, study the employing company in detail, look at the company’s Internet portal, reviews about it, company news, and also go to official pages companies on social networks - get an idea of corporate culture organization: what the emphasis is on in its activities, what is valued in the company, what the company is proud of, who the company’s clients are. Using this knowledge, you can get closer to understanding How to successfully pass an interview for a management position in this company, you will be able to talk about your experience and qualifications in the context of the employer’s needs, to be, as they say, “on the same wavelength.”

Secondly, When presenting the essence of your professional experience, focus on those job functions that are indicated in the vacancy for which you are applying. Give more specific facts, especially those that can be verified. There are nuances here. Let's look at two situations to consider when interviewing for a leadership position.

First: You have not yet held a management position. Then you need to remember and describe at least the minimum experience of demonstrating yourself as a manager. Perhaps you replaced your boss when the latter was on vacation, sick leave, or on a business trip. Or, holding a specialist position, you managed a project where you productively performed the main functions of a manager: organized the project implementation process, planned resources, motivated other members of the project team, controlled deadlines and standards, and made adjustments to the project execution process.

Talk about situations where you showed yourself as informal leader, will also allow the recruiter to conclude that you can take responsibility, motivate people to take certain actions, inspire them and lead them.

In addition, if you have not had time to master the specific functions of a manager as deeply as a potential employer requires, then be sure to study this issue yourself: watch free video trainings on YouTube or in Vkontakte, fortunately, there are many worthy business trainers from all over Russia who share information on effective management.

After which, be sure to inform at the interview for a leadership position that you know how to manage correctly, want to expand your area of ​​responsibility and are ready to apply your existing knowledge in practice.

Second situation: You have already worked in a leadership position. Then center your story about your experience around your real achievements, preferably in digitized form. Show how the company has changed since your arrival, what specifically has become better, more efficient, what problems you solved.

I recommend that you present your practical activities at your previous place of work in the form of two large blocks: the functioning of the company and the development of the company.

What did you do to improve the company’s performance, what business processes did you optimize, what standards did you implement, how did this help the company achieve its goals?

What have you done to develop the company, to bring the company closer to its goals? What methods and management tools did you use? It was mostly manual control or system management was built.

By describing the level of tasks you were involved in, it will not be difficult for the HR manager to understand at what level of management you were effective: strategic, tactical or operational.

Remember that one of the key problems of top management in Russia is that most top managers, for fear of losing control over the situation, do not know how, and often do not want to delegate operational-level tasks to responsible persons. Therefore, give examples from practice of how you effectively distributed tasks, how you rationally used your work time: looking for suppliers of paper clips for the office or designing a new one organizational structure in connection with the adopted new company strategy.

Third, to pass the interview successfully - ask the right questions in in the right order. Often, it is based on the applicant’s questions that the recruiting manager makes a projection about the candidate’s values ​​and his real motivation. One candidate asks first about the provision company car, about payment for mobile phone, about medical insurance, about payment for sick leave, about the availability of overtime and payment for food. The second candidate asks about the area of ​​responsibility, terms of reference, company goals, tasks that will be assigned to the new employee, and corporate culture. All questions are important, but they can be answered in in different order and this is important to consider. What kind of portraits of candidates do you think a recruiter or business owner who makes a hiring decision can draw for himself?

Fourthly, in the final part of the interview, ask questions: “For what key criteria will you be choosing a new employee?”, “What else can I do to take this position?” This is very simple questions and they need answers. By asking these questions, you will know exactly what else you can do to get the job you want. Take action.

Fifthly, After the interview, be sure to write a letter to e-mail Thank the person with whom you interviewed for the meeting, and if after the interview you have a desire to work in this particular company, then write about it. Once again, briefly, point by point (preferably 3-5 points), outline exactly how you can strengthen the company, increase its potential and development. Remember that large salaries are paid to valuable employees who bring real benefit to the organization, and this can always be either assessed or measured.

And the last piece of advice on how to successfully pass an interview for a management position: in all communications with the employer’s contact persons, focus on your capabilities, your desire to work for the benefit of the company; take a proactive position in negotiations with the employer, do not hesitate to offer your ideas even before hiring. Be sure that you will be appreciated.

We all know the common phrase: “The bad soldier is the one who does not dream of becoming a general.” We beg to differ with her, because in the pharmaceutical market there are often examples when successful specialists are not at all interested in career growth due to a change in their responsibilities. After all, for example, for medical representative a higher position as a regional manager implies a new level of responsibility and a large number of business trips, and for a senior pharmacist, the position of pharmacy manager may mean an increase in working hours, managerial functions and financial liability. However, this article is aimed at those pharmaceutical market specialists who are interested in promotion.

Possible career options

It is worth considering two separately possible options career growth: promotion within your company or moving to a higher position in a new company.

The “promotion within your company” option may seem easier: it’s enough to be an effective employee and grow within your competencies, indicate your career ambitions to your immediate manager and wait for the corresponding position to appear. However, this is not always easy to implement in practice for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the company structure may not allow for the availability of a relevant position, especially if we're talking about not about the central Moscow office, but about work in the regions.

Secondly, a manager may not always be interested in an effective specialist who consistently implements the plan leaving his team.

Therefore, it often turns out that it is easier to grow in a position in a new company. However, even in this case, we suggest that you be patient, since not every company that announces a competition for a leadership position is ready to consider candidates without experience in the relevant position. Nevertheless, such positions periodically appear on the market. Let's look at how to prepare for a competition for a leadership position.

Find a mentor

First, enlist the support of one of the current managers - this could be your current manager if you have a trusted professional relationship with him. It often happens that an experienced and competent manager, seeing that an employee of his team has grown professionally, but regional structure the company does not offer opportunities for his career growth, he himself is internally ready for dialogue on this topic. After all, a professionally burnt-out employee who is no longer interested in his functionality often stops bringing results to the team. In this case, you can act openly: indicate to the manager your career ambitions and agree that he will help you develop the relevant competencies. In turn, you will continue to work, without reducing efficiency, within the framework of your current position until the opportunity arises to leave the team with a promotion. However, this is an ideal option, which is not so often found in practice. If for one reason or another you do not want to discuss the issue of career development with your immediate supervisor, then a manager from a third-party company, for example, your manager from your previous job, can become your mentor in this matter.

Contact a professional recruiter

You can get useful recommendations at a recruitment agency. Make a professional acquaintance with a consultant who selects employees for the position of regional managers. Not a single competent recruiter will refuse to help you and give you advice on how best to pass an interview at a particular company, what competencies are important for the position you are applying for, and how best to “sell” your experience and skills. In addition, he will tell you what is known on the market about this company, and whether there are any pitfalls. After all, every recruitment agency consultant understands that today you are a candidate, and tomorrow you can become its client.

Read specialized literature

Without having practical experience in performing certain (in this case, managerial) tasks, you need to ideally prepare theoretically in order to clearly understand the entire scope of functionality when passing the interview. Refer to professional literature. S.V. Paukov, widely known for his “Guide for a Medical Representative of a Pharmaceutical Company,” is also the author of the book “Regional Management.” Of course, there are other books and publications on this topic, they can be found both on the Internet and in the relevant sections of bookstores. We also recommend reading the relevant forums and thematic sections of pharmaceutical websites.

Do you want to know what skills you need to “pump up” in order to become good leader? Take part in the webinar What qualities should a real leader have? November 23 at 13:00 Moscow time!

Expand your functionality

When preparing for an interview for a higher position, do not forget about practice. If this is correct in your case, ask your manager to delegate a number of his responsibilities to you. Many managers will be happy to delegate some of their tasks to you, as this allows them to relieve themselves. This is an invaluable opportunity for you: during the interview, you can confidently say that you have the necessary skills. In addition, part of the competition for a managerial position in pharmaceutical companies is often an assessment center (method comprehensive assessment personnel, including tests and business games), where, as a rule, the skills of applicants are tested on specific cases. In this case it will be useful for you personal experience performing a number of managerial tasks.