A manager will plan, direct, coordinate and assess activities in your company. A manager will typically be responsible for a group of people or an entire department. To be a manager often comes with a range of responsibilities in a company. Recruiting the wrong person can lead to losses of all kinds, of time or money, to the disorganization of a department and to projects not being completed. Therefore you need an effective executive search strategy. Specifically, you need to ask the right questions when interviewing a manager. Which areas should your questions focus on, and what types of questions should be asked? Read the answers below.
Of course, managers require specific technical knowledge in the field they are supposed to supervise: Human Resources, Accounting, Sales, etc. However, they won't necessarily have an operational role. Technical tasks are often delegated to the rest of the staff; they will not be directly responsible for them. Managers are mainly in charge of checking the good execution of the tasks performed by their team or department. Consequently, soft skills are the most important assets to look for. In other words, behavioural skills. Here's a non-exhaustive list of 5 of them.
In order to achieve the objectives, managers have to know how to lead their team towards a common goal, keep them motivated, and know how to influence them and convince them of the proper way to act. They should also know how to manage differences and disagreements, encourage their team, carry out change, deal with the divergent opinions of other managers, etc.
Your questions during your recruitment interview should serve to determine whether or not the manager has the necessary leadership skills.
The best managers aren't always those with the best resumes, but those with the most experience to meet your company's challenges. Someone with 10 years of experience in a similar position, but with a very stable and smooth career isn't always the best choice compared to someone with only 3 years of experience, but who already had to deal with a crisis and overcome it.
Assessing experience during a job interview means measuring a person's experience with complex situations and their reactions to them. If these situations are likely to happen in your company, you should rely on someone who has already experienced them.
Managers must take decisions and to do so, they have to plan. They must have a short, medium and long term vision for your company in order to have an impact. Without this vision, they won't add any value and won't push your company to grow. They will be comparable to an average person who merely executes orders. Strategic vision therefore also implies having a critical mind to challenge decisions and suggest alternatives when the situation requires it.
A company's daily life is not always peaceful. Managers should be able to deal with complex situations, cases of force majeure or third party mistakes. They should be able to anticipate problems and react in time to deal with them. They must do this on their own initiative or with the approval of senior management, if necessary. Similarly, they must be able to seize opportunities that present themselves to the company and use them as a lever for development.
Finally, managers have a significant impact on the well-being of the company's employees. They must embrace the company's values and culture in order to pass them on to their team. This doesn't mean that they can't add their own touch or change your corporate culture as they see fit. On a deeper level, it implies that they are careful not to misrepresent your company's values. Managers who do not share your company's values will not stay with your company for long or will tarnish it.