I am surprised how many people are not prepared when openings come up. I have been part of many interviews with internal applicants and am embarrassed. You need to be prepared for openings.
Make sure you occasionally take the time to do some mock interviews. I get it! It is hard to do an interview when you have not interviewed in ten plus years.
Unfortunately, most employers will require you to interview for lead and supervisor roles. Here are some questions to help you:
- Please list your strengths and how they would benefit you in this position. In addition, please list one weakness and how you intend to improve it.
- How would you deal with an employee that is late often and your team has noticed?
- Please describe how your education, training and experience has prepared you for this position.
- Suppose that your supervisor has instructed you to perform a job in a certain way, but you feel that you could do the job better. How would you deal with this situation?
- How do you lead crews? What is important as a supervisor?
- What has been your greatest learning lesson?
- What do you do when two members of your team disagree? How do you coach them to work better together?
- What would be your initial goals? What things do you hope to accomplish and implement?
- What methods do you use to motivate staff and maintain accountability in day-to-day operations?
- At what point would you escalate situations to higher management or human resources?
These questions should help you. Use them as maybe a refresher, but make sure you include technical questions.
You should look for technical questions in your field. Below are some that people in water could expect:
- Typical shoring regulations are designed to make the excavation and surrounding area as safe as possible by addressing likely hazards. Provide some examples of safety hazards that are common in the field.
- Describe the type(s) of heavy equipment you’ve operated and your experience in working with the equipment. Explain your level of experience using a backhoe and hydro excavator.
- When monitoring treatment plant data, describe what parameters are among the most important to keep track of and why they are important?
- What are the key provisions of the Disinfection Byproducts Rule?
Again, these are some examples. It is very important to be prepared for both leadership questions and technical questions.