Director of Operations Skills Interview
Author:
Alycia Damp, PhD IRHRA Director of Operations interview assessing key skills required for success. We've also included a few motivation and values questions to help you make the best decisions about your candidates.
Focus area:
Question
1
Why are you interested in making a career move to our company as Director of Operations? How do you see this opportunity within the context of your career?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate exhibits fit and motivation to join the company
Explore tips
- Is seeking an opportunity to grow by applying and developing multiple skills
- Wants to make a defined impact on others and the organization’s success
- Is motivated to add value to the company's culture and work environment
- Is passionate when discussing how this connects with their strengths/interests
- Exhibits awareness of the role expectations and the organizational context
Question
2
Communication skills are really important to this role. When it comes to that skill set, what aspect are you best at, and can you share an example of how you've done this in a previous role?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to understand their strengths and how communication is critical to success
Explore tips
- Clearly highlights their specific strengths in communicating
- Shares key communication tactics (e.g. active listening, tailoring to audience)
- Uses evidence from past experience to justify their strengths
- Tailors response with examples relevant to the position and organization
Question
3
When managing programs/operations, you often deal with stakeholders with different levels of power and investment in projects. What are some communication strategies you have used in the past to manage different stakeholders' expectations?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to communicate and engage with stakeholders effectively
Explore tips
- Considers different stakeholder roles (internal/external, direct/indirect, etc.)
- Tailors communication based on stakeholder power and investment per project
- Listens actively to their needs to develop clear understanding of expectations
- Builds stakeholder trust through open, honest, and timely communications
- Discusses learnings or best practices for communicating with key stakeholders
Question
4
Imagine you are managing two projects simultaneously with the [insert team 1 name] and the [insert team 2 name]. How would you monitor progress and ensure the objectives are met for both projects?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to apply a structured approach to managing multiple projects effectively
Explore tips
- Discusses setting specific goals and allocates responsibilities accordingly
- Prioritizes each project's tasks based on importance and urgency
- Maintains open communication with teams to align expectations and solve problems
- Implements a system to track progress and other relevant project metrics
- Suggests methods/tools for monitoring task completion and goal attainment
Question
5
Tell me about a time your department or a department you were working closely with did not meet its KPIs. How did you respond to the issue?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to analyze and respond effectively to performance setbacks
Explore tips
- Describes the business context and explains why the KPI was not achieved
- Identified the reason for missing KPI through root cause analysis/retro session
- Discussed plans for improvement (set objectives, motivated team, etc.)
- Communicated key learnings with the team
- Discusses how they applied learnings to future work/projects
Question
6
Describe a time you utilized financial reports and leveraged relevant data to improve a bottleneck in a certain area of the business. What was the outcome of your efforts?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to analyze company data to improve processes
Explore tips
- Describes the business context and reason for the bottleneck
- Discusses the specific data they used and how they used it
- Explains the specific steps they took and challenges they encountered
- Uses evidence to describe the impact of their actions (e.g. quantitative results)
- Shares learnings from the experience and how to apply them in the future
Question
7
Describe a time you had unexpected challenges with a financial process/aspect of a project. What happened? How did you respond to the problems, and what did you learn from the experience?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to develop solutions for problems stemming from unexpected financial challenges
Explore tips
- Describes context and specific financial challenges
- Explains how the problem arose and identifies key cause of the issue
- Considers the pros and cons of different solutions to resolve issue
- Communicates issue to other parties and solicits input from others if relevant
- Explains which solution they implemented and justifies their decision
Question
8
Describe a time you created a strategy/project/program for a team or an organization to help the business achieve its objectives. What was the strategy and how did you implement it?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to implement strategic changes
Explore tips
- Was conscious of aligning work to overarching organizational goals
- Educated and advised employees on the strategic plan
- Identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to success
- Translated vision into initiatives with actionable items and a delivery schedule
- Acknowledged what would work and what wouldn't based on organizational context
Question
9
How would you go about planning a project to improve our company's operational efficiency? What are the key performance metrics you would suggest, and how would you monitor them to measure success?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to drive improvements by implementing changes to operations
Explore tips
- Analyzes existing information to identify ideal area for process improvements
- Defines specific performance metrics (e.g. cost reductions/savings)
- Ensures metrics are aligned with business context and are relevant for success
- Suggests technology/software to organize and track metrics through project
- Breaks metrics and goals down into sub parts to manage more effectively
Question
10
Describe a time you had to deal with a budget cut to an important project or area of the business. How did you respond, and what changes did you make to the relevant operations?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to monitor and maintain the financial health of an organization
Explore tips
- Describes the context of the business and the economic environment
- Explains and justifies their strategy for responding to budget cuts
- Explains how their actions impacted relevant aspects of the business
- Uses evidence to demonstrate how their actions were successful
- Shares learnings from the experience and how to apply them in the future
Question
11
If you were setting and managing a budget for a new project/program, what approach would you follow, and what would you do to ensure accuracy?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to apply a structured method to budgeting a project
Explore tips
- Outlines a structured method/approach based on project context
- Considers cost categories and uses past data to inform current plan
- Breaks project into tasks and estimates cost based on resources required
- Considers contingencies to and taxes in budget plan to ensure accuracy
- Consults relevant stakeholders and seeks budget approval when complete
Question
12
Based on your past work history and professional experience, in what type of work environment were you the happiest and most productive?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate shares preferences for organizational culture and workstyle aligned with your company
Explore tips
- Discusses attributes that align with your organization
- References different organizational factors (people, place, work, etc.)
- Highlights the values that shaped the environment/culture
- Shares a story from past experience to support their claims
- Justifies why it made them happy and productive
Question
13
What is one thing you wish I had asked you in our conversation today?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate displays self-awareness of unique strengths and value-add
Explore tips
- Gives a response that is relevant to the role in question
- Justifies their suggestion by explaining their value-add
- Exhibits strengths that were not previously covered
- Further demonstrates their value-add and competitiveness as a candidate
