Prospective Supervisor Interview-No Hire
Copyright ©2010 Alarmt.
All Rights Reserved.

Employer-Interviewer
Applicant-No Hire

Interviewer-Well, I see you have been a supervisor of Installation/Repair for a small telephone company. We currently have an opening for that position in our company. Tell me what your responsibilities were in your previous position.

No Hire- I oversaw the Installation and Repair for a small telephone company.

Interviewer-What do you mean oversaw?

No Hire- Well, the people that worked for me put in and repaired phones. I supervised them and handed them their orders for the day.

Interviewer- What else?

No Hire- Well if anyone had any problems I would contact my manager to see what she wanted me to do about it.

Interviewer- Were you able to resolve any of the problems without involving your manager?

No Hire- Yeah, I probably could but I wanted to make sure I was doing what my boss wanted.

Interviewer- OK, can you tell me anything about your people skills?

No Hire- Yes, I get along great with all my employees. I either fish or hunt with all of them but one. Yeah, Susie doesn't fish or hunt. You know how women are.

Interviewer- OK, let me ask you another question. Let's say your boss gives you an assignment and he or she wants it done a certain way but you think it would work better another way. What would you do?

No Hire- Well, if I think I can do it better another way I will do it the way I want to. That's really what they pay me to do. Make decisions. You know the old saying, "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission". Anyway, normally I am closer to the pulse of the business than my boss.

Interviewer-OK, let me ask you another question. Let's say that your boss wants to change a work rule that will be unpopular with your crew but would result in cost savings for your company. How would you handle this?

No Hire- First, let me say that I would never be insubordinate. But, if it's something that will really make my crew angry, You know I have to get along with them so I may put off implementing the new rule as long as I can. You know "a happy employee is a productive employee". I have had this happen before. I eventually will have to implement the new rule but I have a method that works pretty well for me.

Interviewer-What would that method be?

No Hire- Well if it is something that will upset the troops I will pass it along but let my crew know that if it was up to me I wouldn't do it that way but the boss is making us change. That keeps them from being upset at me. I have to work with them you know.

Interviewer- OK, you mentioned earlier that a "happy employee is a productive employee". How was the productivity of your last crew?

No Hire- Well, we really didn't have a mechanized system that would track productivity but I knew who did their job and who was just drawing a paycheck.

Interviewer-So you knew who your most productive employees were?

No Hire- Sure.

Interviewer-Did you know who your least productive employees were?

No Hire- Sure.

Interviewer- What were you doing to improve their performance?

No Hire- What do you mean?

Interviewer-I mean, what were you doing to raise the level of your low performers?

No Hire- Oh, I would let them know at appraisal time that they needed to "pick it up a notch or two". In fact just last year one of my employees and I were fishing. I had caught five fish and he had caught two. I told him his fishing productivity reminded me of his work productivity.

Interviewer-Could you tell the difference in your top and bottom employees appraisals or was there documentation that reflected what you were doing to raise their level of performance.

No Hire- Not really, but like I said, we don't really have a mechanized method to track performance. Besides, most of my crew have been with us for years, what am I supposed to do, fire them for low productivity?

Interviewer-If you came up with a fair system to track your employee's productivity, would your boss approve of this?

No Hire- I guess she would but I would have to keep some sort of manual stroke sheet or something.

Interviewer-What are your thoughts on Quality of Work?

No Hire- I'm a firm believer in quality.

Interviewer- How do you track quality?

No Hire- Well, our company really doesn't have a mechanized way of tracking quality.

Interviewer-Do you inspect some of the jobs that your technicians complete?

No Hire- Yeah, I look at some.

Interviewer-Explain your process if you find quality defects on a job.

No Hire- Oh, I'll normally talk to the employee about it.

Interviewer-Would this conversation be documented?

No Hire- Nah, my crew knew that that I was serious about quality. I never had a need to write it down. Besides, all of my crew had been with the company for many years. What could I do with them, fire them for poor quality?

Interviewer- What about safety observations? If you observed one of your employees working in an unsafe manner, what would you do?

No Hire- Well I would wait until the employee completed their work operation and I would advise them of the safety deviations that I observed.

Interviewer-Would you document this?

No Hire- No, there wouldn't be a need for this. My crew knew I take safety seriously. We only had seven accidents in my two years as a supervisor. Besides, most of my crew have been with us for years, what am I supposed to do, fire them for not working safely?

Interviewer-OK, what about attendance? Explain how you managed attendance?

No Hire- Well again, we didn't have any mechanized reports that tracked attendance.

Interviewer-Did you keep a manual chart or anything that let you track when employees were absent?

No Hire- I didn't but I knew that when my employees don't show up for work they are really sick. I do have some that miss quite a few days but they were some of my older employees. You know how older employees are. They are sick more often. I tell you one thing, when they were there they did a heck of a job. Besides, most of my crew have been with us for years, what am I supposed to do, fire them for not showing up?

Interviewer-Let me give you a situation and tell me how you would handle it. You have an employee that has a standing doctors appointment for the second Monday of every month. How would you handle this?

No Hire- Well if the employee says it was really a doctors appointment I would allow the employee to go to the doctor.

Interviewer-Would they be absent all day?

No Hire- If they were taking a sick day, yes, they would be absent all day.

Interviewer-Being in a service industry, what type of hours did you work?

No Hire- Well I was a salaried employee and normally worked 8-5. I didn't receive pay for overtime so anything that happened after 5PM was not my problem. It could wait until tomorrow. Some days I would work through my lunch and leave at 4PM or earlier if I needed off early.

Interviewer-Did you receive an hour for lunch?

No Hire- Well, I was salaried so I normally took what I wanted. It depended on whom I had lunch with or saw at the restaurant. That was one of the advantages to being a supervisor.

Interviewer-What hours did your technicians work?

No Hire- They came to work at 8 AM and worked until the jobs were completed.

Interviewer-What time would they leave the storeroom?

No Hire- Normally by the time I assigned all the work it would be between 8:45 AM and 9:00 AM.

Interviewer-Did your crew work much overtime?

No Hire- Oh man, did we. My last year we ran 40% overtime. We had a ton of work. I talked to my crew and asked if they thought we needed more technicians but they felt like it would cut into their overtime. We all felt like it would eventually slow down.

Interviewer-You previously stated that you normally worked until 5 PM. How did you know that your employees were productive during this 40% overtime?

No Hire- I would make sure the next day that there was a job associated with the extra hours they worked. I was lucky. I had a very honest crew. Also, as I mentioned earlier, they are all my friends and would not take advantage of me.

Interviewer-Let me give you another situation. You have an employee that needs off at noon on a Friday for a long weekend but can not afford to lose any pay. How would you handle this?

No Hire- Well, that's easy. I would allow the technician to take off and make up the time the next week but not charge me for it.

Interviewer-If you don't mind me asking, why did you leave XYZ Telephone?

No Hire- Well, we had a downsizing and went down one supervisor. We had never had a downsizing in the history of our company. I don't know why they laid me off. I wasn't the junior supervisor in total time with the company or as a supervisor. My manager said I had the worst results of any of the supervisors but I personally didn't think I was any worse than the others. Another thing, if my boss called me to do something I would normally respond. Personally though, I didn't like working for a woman anyway and I don't think she liked me.

Interviewer-Thank you for your time. I really don't think you will fit in here but let me give you the personnel number for some of our competitors.

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Note: In our live classes I would hand out clickers to all students. I asked that they click these when "No Hire" threw up a red flag that he may not be the right person for the job. It was really difficult to get through this interview with all the clicking going on. gg

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Prospective Supervisor Interview 2
Copyright ©2010 Alarmt.
All Rights Reserved.

Employer-Interviewer
Applicant-Do Hire

Interviewer-Well, I see you were a supervisor of Installation/Repair for a small telephone company. We currently have an opening for that position in our company. Tell me what your responsibilities were in your previous position.

Do Hire - I supervised a group of twelve Installation and Repair technicians for a small telephone company. The people that worked with me installed and repaired phones. I worked with them to try and make their jobs easier and improve their performance, which in turn helped the company and me.

Interviewer- What else?

Do Hire - A large portion of my job was employee development. As you know in a service industry I spent many hours on resolving problems.

Interviewer- Were you able to resolve any of the problems without involving your manager?

Do Hire - Yes sir, I took pride in the fact that I handled most of my problems without involving my manager. She had all she could handle without doing my job. I would FYI her on major items so she would not be blindsided.

Interviewer- OK, can you tell me anything about your people skills?

Do Hire - Yes, I had a great crew. We had a mutual respect for the job that we each had. Regretfully, I did have two employees that were not able to meet their job requirements even after I worked with them. I eventually had to let these two go. My crew has much better results than when I got there. We improved our quality, quantity, attendance and safety.

Interviewer- OK, let me ask you another question. Let's say your boss gives you an assignment and he or she wants it done a certain way but you think it would work better another way. What would you do?

Do Hire - Well, if I think I can do it better another way I would attempt to discuss my thoughts on the process with my boss. If after making my best case my boss still sticks to her original plan I will follow her instructions. Most of the time it will work either way and it's not worth the time to change direction. I feel there is a difference between being an effective supervisor and a "yes" person. Anyway, sometimes my boss is looking at a broader perspective than me.

Interviewer-OK, let me ask you another question. Let's say that your boss wants to change a work rule that will be unpopular with your crew but would result in cost savings for your company. How would you handle this?

Do Hire- If the work rule would result in a benefit to my company and I understand it I would implement it immediately. I would first make myself knowledgeable enough to explain the change and the benefit to the company. I have been a technician and have been told of changes with no explanation. Most employees have a "how does this affect me" attitude until they see the impact on the company. After all, if the company is not here, neither am I.

Interviewer- You mentioned earlier that you improved performance in your crew. How did you do that?

Do Hire- Well, we really didn't have a mechanized system that would track productivity so I had do a manual system. After two months I knew who were my most and least productive but I had to start a manual method to track and document this. Luckily all of my technicians were fully trained so I just had to put performance standards in place. All of my employees but one were able to meet the standards. This is one of the employees I mentioned earlier.

Interviewer-So you knew whom your most productive employees were?

Do Hire-Yes sir. It was documented.

Interviewer-Did you know who your least productive employees were?

Do Hire-Yes sir. It was documented.

Interviewer - What were you doing to improve their performance?

Do Hire- I covered the productivity results with my crew monthly. I documented these discussions with all crew members and also covered the need to improve with the poor performers. I had to invoke discipline on a few employees that did not improve. On one employee I found that he did not know how to use a test set correctly. Once he was trained on this I saw an immediate improvement.

Interviewer-Could you tell the difference in your top and bottom employee's appraisals or was there documentation that reflected what you were doing to raise their level of performance.

Do Hire-Yes sir, each of my employees are different and you might not be able to distinguish between the average employees on paper but you can certainly tell the top and bottom performer. If what you are asking is do I have a generic appraisal for my employees, the answer is no. You could definitely tell the difference in the monthly documented reviews I conducted.

Interviewer-What are your thoughts on Quality of Work?

Do Hire-I'm a firm believer in quality.

Interviewer- How do you track quality?

Do Hire- Well, our company really doesn't have a mechanized way of tracking quality, but I came up with a manual system in a spreadsheet that tracks the defects per job that I visit on each employee.

Interviewer-So you do inspect some of the jobs that your technicians complete?

Do Hire-Yes sir, I look at a minimum of 3 jobs per employee per month.

Interviewer-Explain your process if you find quality defects on a job.

Do Hire-I will document the defect on my spreadsheet for each employee and will cover these defects with the employee and document the discussion with the employee. If there is a trend it could lead to disciplinary action.

Interviewer- What about safety observations? If you observed one of your employees working in an unsafe manner, what would you do?

Do Hire-Well if they were performing an unsafe act I would immediately stop the employee and explain the safety violation. This would also be documented in my safety plan. Continued safety deviations would lead to disciplinary action. I had rather bring the attention to the deviation. I feel this could prevent an accident.

Interviewer-OK, what about attendance? Explain how you managed attendance?

Do Hire- Well again, we didn't have any mechanized reports that tracked attendance but I kept a spreadsheet on each employee. I would document all absences on this spreadsheet. I have a discussion with every employee after each absence. Problem offenders are placed on disciplinary action.

Interviewer-Let me give you a situation and tell me how you would handle it. You have an employee that has a standing doctors appointment for the second Monday of every month. How would you handle this?

Do Hire-Well, first Mondays are our busiest days. We don't work anyone on Sunday and a short crew on Saturday. I would visit with the employee and see if the appointment could be rescheduled to after hours. If not, I would see if the appointment could be scheduled on the employee's day off and have the employee work the Saturday of his appointment. I would try to minimize the impact on our customers but still allow the employee to keep their appointment. If it continued to interfere with the employee's attendance I would have to progress to the disciplinary stage.

Interviewer-Being in a service industry, what type of hours did you work?

Do Hire-Well I was a salaried employee and normally worked around nine-ten hours a day. I reported in time to have the assignments ready for the employees when they reported to work.

Interviewer-What hours did your technicians work?

Do Hire-They came to work at 8 AM and worked until the jobs were completed.

Interviewer-What time would they leave the storeroom?

Do Hire-Normally I had their work ready for them when they reported to duty. Unless something unusual happened they should be out of the storeroom by 8:10 AM.

Interviewer-Did your crew work much overtime?

Do Hire-The crew I inherited averaged 40% overtime the year before I took over.

Interviewer-Did you do something to improve the overtime?

Do Hire-I think a few things helped. First, as I said I implemented performance standards on productivity, quality, safety and attendance. I feel all of these items affect the overall efficiency of my crew. Also, I would visit employees on the job to insure employees were where they should be. My overtime is now less than 10%.

Interviewer-Did you add any employees?

Do Hire-No sir. We were able to manage with what we had.

Interviewer-Let me give you another situation. You have an employee that needs off at noon on a Friday for a long weekend but can not afford to lose any pay. How would you handle this?

Do Hire- If the needs of the business would allow, I would allow them to take vacation. If not, I would work with the employee to possibly take an earlier shift for that day. If you are asking if I would show the employee working when they are not on the job the answer is no.

Interviewer-If you don't mind me asking, why did you leave XYZ Telephone?

Do Hire-Actually, I am still employed by them and they have treated me well but we are wanting to relocate here. I am aware of your company. You seem to be progressive and growing and I feel I can make a contribution to your organization.

Interviewer-Let's talk salary and see if you can give your two-weeks notice.
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Which do you want in your organization? "No Hire" or "Do Hire"?