Managerial round interview: 15 sample questions and answers

managerial round interview questions to ask
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A company's hiring process often has several stages, including initial screening, HR interviews, technical interviews, and a managerial round. 

The managerial round interview is usually placed at the final stage of the hiring process, after the human resources department finished scanning the basic qualification requirements. 

At the managerial round of interviews, the managers of the company will ask questions to determine whether you are truly competent for the role. You will have to gain company leaders' approval, by nailing the managerial round interviews and answering the questions perfectly, to ultimately land your dream job.

Read on to learn more about managerial rounds and 15 sample interview questions and answers to get fully prepared.

What is the Managerial Round of Interviews?

The managerial round of an interview is when a manager or multiple managers interview a job candidate. 

After you’ve succeeded in the first few stages of an interview, the HR will pass you to the managerial round and the hiring manager will ask questions to decide whether you truly are suitable to work with them. 

The purpose of a managerial round is for managers to participate in the human resources screening process since you will be part of their teams and working with them closely. 

In addition, you’ll get to meet the manager in the managerial round to know more about the company’s culture, working styles, and future collaborators. 

Managerial Round Interview Questions and Answers

You might be wondering “what should I expect in a managerial round?”, which is why we’ve gathered 15 common managerial round interview questions with sample answers provided:

Common managerial round interview questions

  • Why should we hire you?

This managerial round question often makes candidates a bit nervous. However, this is used to test your confidence when you face managers in the final round. List your strengths and qualifications as you would in any other interviews.

“First, my skills and career history match perfectly with your requirements for a sales representative. I have also been a big fan of your company’s products and am very familiar with them. I’m excited to leverage my people skills to close sales projects with big clients, utilizing my strong experience to help you achieve your company vision. I believe I’m your most passionate and competent candidate.”

  • What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Managers ask you this question both to understand you and to know how well you understand yourself in the managerial round of interviews. Answer candidly and show them that you are working on your weaknesses.

“My strength is my communication and organization skills. I can communicate things clearly to strangers and organize large, complex tasks and break them into manageable pieces. On the other hand, my weakness is my discomfort with taking big risks. That’s why I’m reading books on psychology and decision-making strategies to understand how to see risks as opportunities.”

  • What motivates you?

This is one of the most common managerial round interview questions since motivations are what make us do our work better. Employees with strong motivation will have a higher sense of accomplishment and productivity, which in turn benefits the company. Employers ask this in the managerial round to understand what keeps you passionate.

"Creating visually impressive designs is what motivates me to work as a motion designer. I enjoy the final moment when I see my animation come together and reach thousands of audiences. That’s also what inspired me to join your company since I admired your motion works.”

  • What do you least enjoy in your last job?

Managers ask this question in the managerial round to observe your professionalism and understand reasons behind your resignation and what you value in a company. You should answer the managerial round question positively. Discuss tasks or situations rather than individuals or the environment. 

"In my time with Marketstraat, I had the chance to learn various management techniques for large corporations. Nevertheless, I’m looking to join a smaller organization to expand my skills, take on more responsibilites, and work as a change agent to bring positive effects on an organization's long term mission and goals.”

  • What do you think managers and leaders can do to support their employees?

A good manager cares about their employees. They don’t just want to know if you are a good fit for the company; they also want to know if they can help you grow professionally as a supervisor. As a result, when this question shows up in the managerial round, you can voice opinions or experience in the interview.

“I always appreciate constructive feedback from my superiors. I believe managers can guide their employees with directional opinions and point out overlooked aspects. Also, I think it’s important for managers to communicate with their employees frequently. This is crucial for managerial tasks such as delegating tasks and responsibilities.”

  • What are your career goals?

Setting a career goal is always good for you. Employers also ask this in the managerial round to know about your aspirations. Career goals help employers in the managerial round know your focus and plans to progress in your profession and if they match those of the company’s.

“My goal is to advance into the lead software developer role to guide a team of developers in the next two years. For leadership skills, I’m now providing mentorship for junior software developers online and taking management courses. As for my technical skills, I challenge myself to build a more robust system, with at least 2.5 million requests per minute to improve data management skills.”

  • How do you perform under pressure?

Performing under pressure is a quality that can make a difference between an outstanding employee and an average one. This could be a potential question asked at a manager interview to learn about your ability to stay calm, think logically, and deal with unexpected situations. 

“I am often calm when meeting unexpected obstacles. One time, I was expected to complete and close the project in a week. However, one of our engineers had a car accident and was sent to the hospital. As a result, I immediately took on some of the remaining tasks, delegated a small portion of them to other engineers, and made sure they were on track. Afterward, I specifically thanked them for their efficiency in the celebrating party in public and visited the engineer in the hospital.”

  • How do you deal with conflicts between co-workers?

Disagreements in workplaces are not uncommon. Conflict-related questions are asked in the managerial round to determine your communication skills and reaction to conflicts with colleagues.

“I deal with conflict using active listening. Empathizing with my teammates without feeling offended is crucial. When facing conflicts or obstacles, I will first hold back my opinions to listen to the other person’s viewpoint. Also, I will build a safe space for people to voice opinions privately to avoid complications.”

  • Are there things you would like to share about yourself?

If this question is asked at the end of the managerial interview round to wrap up the conversation. The managerial round is the final chance for you to demonstrate your accomplishment, skills, qualifications, so if you feel like you haven’t brought out the best side of yourself when answering previous questions, you can take this chance to explain it again in the managerial interview round.

“Actually, yes! We didn’t talk about it previously, but I have several years of experience working in customer service, which allowed me to develop transferable skills needed for this role. I’m able to tackle customer problems and come up with actionable solutions to help make our product better. I wanted to mention this because the ability to understand the customer’s needs is what differentiates me from other candidates.”

  • What salary are you expecting?

This tricky question might arise at the near end of the managerial round. To answer this managerial round question, you can mention a flexible range or return focus on the position.

“Although I’m more interested in finding a position that will allow me to exercise my skills and knowledge, I understand the similar roles offer salaries between $64700 and $74800. I believe we will agree on an amount that is competitive in the job market given my experience, knowledge of the industry, and skills.”

Managerial round interview questions for freshers

  • What brings you to our company?

Employers ask this question in a managerial round interview to understand why you apply for this role. To prepare for this managerial round question, you can look into the company’s mission and goals to learn about its position in the industry, find out what attracts you and show them your enthusiasm.

I want to be fully dedicated and learn from the best in my first job. I’ve always been following industry news and admired your innovative culture. I want to join your company to experience it first-hand and help deliver world-leading products."

Managerial round interview questions for experienced job applicants

  • Tell me about an accomplishment you are proud of. 

In a managerial round interview, an experienced job applicant might face questions like this and be asked to elaborate on their work experience. 

So prepare one or two examples with details that can showcase your skills. The employer might even ask you follow up questions to learn more about your work style or thought process in the managerial round. 

“In my 10 years of working as a project manager, I’m most proud of developing the App “Chatsnap”. Our team wanted to design an instant, visual-motion-based social media, which was different from BookFace. Some in the company didn’t trust our team, yet we believed in ourselves and that this product should be a successful project and worked hard on it. To date, this application has more than 10M users. This experience made me believe that passion is the most crucial factor to success.”

Managerial round interview questions for software developers

  • Describe the previous project you’ve worked on. Especially the challenges and your contributions.

This question is asked at a managerial interview because managers want to know what you are interested in and your current competence. Moreover, they ask this question to assess your ability to handle challenges and problem-solving skills.

As a front-end engineer in a design studio, I helped make an interactive website for our studio's biggest client. The challenge was to hand our product smoothly to the client's marketing and sales team after we create the website. The client had very sophisticated guidelines, a complicated document system, and an ill-organized design department. I decided to have a meeting directly with their Marketing Director to understand their requests better, and suggest a possible solution to help their team work more smoothly with our website.

Managerial round interview questions for testers

  •  How do you handle ambiguity, either in projects or applications?

Testers frequently face unclear situations, so the interviewer, your potential manager, likely wants to know your ability to handle them and if you’re comfortable with ambiguity. Nail this question by showing them examples of how you dealt with ambiguity in the past in the managerial round of interviews.

“I am comfortable with ambiguity. I enjoy using my skills in every task and taking a little risk in automation testing. Ambiguity is an opportunity to help improve my team’s ability to bring out better solutions each time. I see it as an inevitable part for testers, and that’s when creative thinking and problem-solving come into place.”

Managerial round interview questions for QA

  • How do you select a quality testing tool?

Employers might also ask technical questions in a managerial round interview. When facing this kind of question, stay calm, answer slowly, and show them your thought process. 

“There are several aspects I will consider when choosing an automation test tool. First, I’ll go through the requirements and make a list of useful tools. I’ll then reexamine the cost, our company’s skill sets, and key criteria.”

Good Questions to Ask in the Managerial Round of an Interview

At the end of the managerial round, applicants are frequently encouraged to ask questions regarding the company, role, and managers or voice any doubts. Asking constructive and good questions in the managerial round add value to you as a candidate.

In the managerial round, the managers might even decide if you are a bright minder or a critical thinker based on the questions you ask. 

Questions to ask in the managerial round include:

  1. How would you define or measure success for this role?
  2. What are the company’s current goals? What are the biggest challenges?
  3. What does a typical day look like in this company?

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--- Originally written by Wu Chao Min ---

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