interview questions to ask when hiring a manager

I recently put this together for someone, and I'm recycling it here: interview questions to ask if you're hiring a manager of a department, organization, whatever.

As you'll see, the idea of most of these to give you a good feel for whether this is someone who gets things done, is a strong manager who's focused on results, etc. Please add in your own!

General

Send the candidate your annual report or other materials ahead of time. In the interview, ask him/her to explain the organization's work to you as if you were a prospective funder or investor.

How would the people around you describe you?

What's a common misconception some people have about you?

Tell me about a difficult decision you had to make recently. Walk me through the problem and what your thought process was, and how you ultimately handled it.

What is one thing that you have had difficulty over coming in your career, and how did you do that?

What is some of the most useful criticism you’ve ever received? Why?

Have you ever been given criticism that you disagreed with? What was it? How did you handle that?

Getting things done

What has your biggest achievement been at ___? What results there that you produced are you most proud of? (Then ask the same question for other jobs they've had. You're looking for someone with a pattern of taking things from X to Y -- with Y being greater than X.)

What were the big things you were trying to achieve in the past year at ___? What things were/are worrying you? What were/are you doing about it?

What were your organization or department's major goals last year (depending on whether the person was managing the organization or a department there)? How did you settle on those? To what extent did you meet them? How did you measure whether or not you met them? Were there targets you considered setting, but ultimately rejected?

What’s an example of a goal you didn’t meet? How come? How did you respond to that?

What will success look like for you this year? Why is that important? How hard will it be to get there?

If I were to ask your ___ (someone who reports to the person) what her goals are, what would she say? Does that match what you would say they are?

Tell me about one of the organization's largest or most important projects and how you managed it, from start to finish. I'm interested in something where others were doing the work, but you were overseeing it.
- What was the vision for it?
- What happened?
- How did you ensure that happened? (You’re looking for managers who leave little to chance: either they have good reason to rely on the person in charge of the project, or they keep their hands in things enough to ensure success.)
- How do you know it happened?
- What lessons did you take away?

What are some of the biggest obstacles your organization/department (whichever they are responsible for) hit in the last few years? What did you do to address them?

Tell me about something you got done at ___ that someone else in your role probably wouldn't have.

Managing people

How would you describe yourself as a manager? How do you think others would describe you?

What is your philosophy about management?

What do you think the fundamental purpose of a manger is? (You're looking for someone who knows it's about getting things done, not something touchy-feely.)

How has your management philosophy evolved as you’ve gained more management experience?

What do you do to work on being a better manager?

What do you think are some of the most common ways people fail at management?

Talk about the balance between not micromanaging but still being involved enough to be able to catch problems early on.

Tell me about an employee who became more successful as a result of your management.

How would you describe the bar for performance at ___ (or in the department you manage)?

Who are your best people? What are you doing to retain them?

What do you look for when you hire people?

Tell me about your most recent high-level hire. How did you go about searching for the person?

When was the last time you fired someone or coached someone out? How many people have you fired in the last two years? Why? (You’re looking for a manager who fires people who don’t perform at a high standard.)

Walk me through one of more challenging times you had to let someone go -- what did you try first, how did you make the decision? How much time did it take from when you first started having concerns until when you ultimately let the person go?

Tell me about the most difficult employee situation you ever had to handle. What did you do and what was the result?

Tell me about a time you were managing a poor performer. How did you handle it and what was the outcome?

What was the most difficult management decision you’ve ever had to make?

Tell me about a management mistake that you made in the past. What would you do differently?

Even the best bosses generate complaints from their employees now and then. What complaints do you think the people you've managed would have about you?