Hardest Manager Bakery Interview Preparation Guide

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Say many people think money is a great motivator but that is not always the case. I always make sure I take the time to praise my team members for a job well done.

Say you enjoy the challenge and think you can learn a lot by managing a $1 million+ business. You can also state you enjoy mentoring and coaching others.

We have the average salary around $45K. With the upper salary being $70K and lower range 32K. If you live in a city with a high cost of living shoot high. If you don’t feel comfortable stating a salary you can always flip the question and ask what is the range.

Does the company offer formal or informal mentoring and coaching? Does it invest in continued education or professional training? Great companies want to hire people who are dedicated to personal and professional growth. Show your hiring manager that continued development is important to you.

In customer service, you will sometimes come across customers who are rude, complain, or cannot be pleased. Talk to the hiring manger about your customer service philosophy, and how you go about handling rude customers.

This question can be a breath of fresh air to HR reps who primarily answer questions about benefits (which are valuable questions, don't misunderstand). Asking an HR employee what they like about the company tells them you care about the company's culture and that you care about the opinion of someone whom you might not work with directly.

Virtually every company has enough work to keep everyone busy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In practice, everyone gets to go home at the end of the day. How do you know when you are done for the day? What are the expectations around working on weekends and responding to emails outside the normal working hours?

Having an opportunity to contribute is one of the key indicators of job satisfaction and team performance. If your hiring manager feels heard, appreciated, and valued for his or her input, chances are the same will translate into your position.

I like this question because it addresses expectations in concrete terms. Beyond stock descriptions of good communication and analytical skills, what does excellence look like for that position?

While you might be able to find a canned response to this question on the company's website, it'll be useful -- and possibly eye-opening -- for you to hear it more candidly from an employee. How the company treats its customers could end up informing your decision to join if you are offered the job, especially if you're applying for a job where you'll be communicating directly with customers.

It's easy to forget that someone might have once held the position you're applying for -- or, more importantly, that the role might have evolved since it came on your radar. Don't be afraid to ask HR what this job looked like before you were interested in it. This can include what the responsibilities looked like, how many other people currently hold this position at the company, and even where HR thinks it's going in the future.

Getting HR's perspective on the history of your potential role can give you unbiased insight into your department, and let HR know that you're interested in your future at the company -- not just your present.

Asking this question in an interview can give you insight into the challenges the hiring manager has in doing his or her job. Resources trickle down, so if the hiring manager is pressed for time, dealing with an unusually tight budget, or is short on human capital, you will be affected as well.

Dress code can be a touchy subject in interviews -- you don't want to reveal that you have deal-breakers so early into a hiring process. But, it is an important aspect of the job for many professionals. Sometimes business wear just isn't your thing, but you still want to maximize your chances at getting a job offer.

If you want to get an idea of the company's dress code without suggesting it's a big deal to you, simply ask HR what you're expected to wear on your first day. It's a harmless question that gives you the information you need at the same time.

Ever work with people that just get it? That's who hiring managers are looking for. This question demonstrates that you understand a job is about more than just going through the motions. Successful people have a specific frame of mind, approach, attitude, work ethic, communication style, and so on -- and you want to know what that mix looks like at this company.

For this question, they want to learn about how your previous work experience matches to the position of general manager. They are looking for people who have experience in customer relations, restaurant maintenance and repair, inventory management, team management, recruiting and retention of team members, and financial accountability. If you have experience in any of the above now is the time to mention it.

☛ 1. Tell me about your experience in management. Did you ever lead a team? How many people have you supervised?
☛ 2. What is the greatest challenge you have faced on the job? How did you overcome it?
☛ 3. Describe the steps you took to increase employee retention at your previous job. What were the outcomes? (If the candidate has experience as a nurse manager).
☛ 4. Tell me about a negative situation at a past job. What did you do to turn it into a positive one? Were you recognized for it?
☛ 5. What did you do to calm an angry or upset patient in the past? Tell me about the situation.
☛ 6. Was there ever a time you had to convince someone to do something they didn’t want to do? What was it? What was that individual’s reaction afterward?
☛ 7. Describe a time you and a doctor needed to collaborate. Was there conflict? What did you do to resolve the issue?
☛ 8. Have you ever had to fire anyone? What was your approach?
☛ 9. What were the characteristics of your ideal patient as a nurse? How did you handle patients who did not fit those criteria?
☛ 10. Have you ever attended a national conference? Tell me about what you learned and how you contributed.
☛ 11. Tell me about a time that you were a leader. What did you do to earn that position, and what did you do to keep it?
☛ 12. Give me some examples of your problem-solving skills.
☛ 13. Was there ever a time you clashed with your nurse manager when you were a nurse? What would you do differently than that individual?
☛ 14. Describe an emergency situation where you had to think and act quickly. What would you do differently, if anything?
☛ 15. Tell me about a time one of your co-workers was in the wrong. What did you do? Did their actions put a patient in danger?

☛ How do you make sure that the goals of your organization are aligned from top to bottom?
☛ How do ensure results are measured in real time?
☛ How many people have you fired? How do you go about it?
☛ How do you keep up to date on new laws and regulations to ensure compliance?
☛ Discuss your experience with creating employee recognition and rewards programs.
☛ Discuss your efforts to promote disease prevention and wellness.
☛ How would you define a successful administrator?
☛ Describe a time you had to compromise your ethics.
☛ If I called a member of your current staff and asked them to tell me about you, what would they say?
☛ In prior positions did you have budgeting responsibilities? If so, what was the size of your operating budget?
☛ Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an irate physician. What happened?
☛ Tell us about a high-level innovative idea/change that you implemented. Was it successful?
☛ How do you ensure your organization is keeping up with the continual advances in medical technology?
☛ What do you do when trying to solve a problem and you are confronted with contradictory information?
☛ If I were to call members of your board, how would they describe your relationship with them?

This is an important question to ask in an interview because it can help you get insight into the position and how it fits into the network of the company. Who will you support? Who will you supervise and guide? What skills are critical for success?

Similar to the first question on this list, this question shows you know HR is more than just the company's first line of defense during the recruitment process.

Take your phone screening as an opportunity to become acquainted with the human resources department and find out how you'd interact with them on a regular basis from your department. It's a friendly question and one that shows your interest in how the whole company operates -- not just your own team.

Talk to the hiring manager about your organizational skills and how you remain on schedule.

If you would be working with the person interviewing you, this is another tough question that can give you some insight into how the team works. It pushes the hiring manager to think about how he or she would handle an uneasy situation, while at the same time showing your level of maturity in that that you (realistically) expect to receive tough feedback sometimes.

As a flip-side to the seventh question above, also consider asking HR what they think the company's greatest challenge is right now. While other candidates might be skittish around a business's weaknesses, this question shows HR you're willing to accept the current negatives and join them on righting the ship.

For this question, you need to reread the job description and find key skills they are looking for and restate those skills. After rereading the job description below is what I found:

☛ A natural leader, you want to be captain because you can bring together a winning team (skill: leadership).
☛ We have a GREAT culture and look for GREAT people to add to our family. You know who you are –honest, energetic, motivational and fun (skill: motivational skills).
☛ The Restaurant General Manager has the overall responsibility for directing the daily operations of a restaurant and ensuring compliance with company standards in all areas of operation (skill: attention to details)

For some jobs, learning the technology or the internal company procedures is the most challenging aspect of coming on board. For others, it is about understanding the human network. Any guidance on how to speed up the learning process and make you effective and productive quicker can give you a significant advantage.

Asking this question at the close of the interview can feel terrifying. After all, you are asking whether there is any reason why the hiring manager wouldn’t want to extend you an offer. However, if you have the courage to ask this, you stand to gain a better sense of the next steps in the process and an opportunity to address any reservations that the hiring manager might have about your candidacy while you still have his or her attention.