Be prepared for a supervisor interview by doing some preliminary research.
Interviewing for a supervisor position will take time and research into the company before the interview date. You'll want to know key information such as what goods, products or services the company provides, how the labor division is broken down within the company and roughly how many people will be reporting to you as their supervisor before your interview. By being prepared with basic information about your company, you'll spend less time in the interview having the interviewer explaining the job functions, leaving more time for you to show why your skills match the position.
Research the Company
You can begin researching the company by going online. Check out the company's website and check out the company by searching it through popular search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo!. These two different views give you information that the company wants the public to see, and possibly views from the consumers of the company, giving you a different perspective. Take all of the information and compile it into basic bullet points that you'll be able to study before the interview. This information will help you to better answer questions intelligently during your interview.
Speak in soundbites
During your interview, speak in soundbites. This means you should answer questions in full, complete sentences. To do this, you'll want to prepare answers to general questions you may be asked during your interview. A few general questions include:
Tell me about your management skills used in your prior job.
What was a major project taken on by your last team and what was the result?
Do you work well under pressure?
The answer can be a "yes" or "no," but you'll want to follow it up. For example, if you are asked, "Do you work well under pressure," you can say, "Yes, I feel that I am most productive under pressure and really thrive with deadlines."
Answering Difficult Questions
During your interview, you may be asked difficult questions that can be uncomfortable to answer. However, answering these questions honestly and putting a positive spin on them by showing how you turned the situation in question around could play in your favor. For example, if you are asked "When was a time that your supervisory skills have failed," you can respond by saying, "I used to micromanage a lot of projects at my last position when I first started. I felt that I could work better knowing all of the pieces were getting taken care of by myself. However, my team felt neglected and I was overworked. I learned that if I am able to divide and hand out the projects, not only does my team work better because they are involved, but I am able to be a better supervisor because of having less work to do and more time to spend on managing my team."
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