What are the Interview Questions for my Promotion?

Promotion Interview Questions

• Answer:

  The possibility of a job promotion creates excitement. You have mastered your current position and look forward to new opportunities. Gain the support of your supervisors before applying for an internal job opening. If your supervisor taps you for a job promotion, preview interview topics with her guidance. Her invaluable suggestions -- and your preparation -- ensure successful meetings. Self-Assessment Preparing for any interview requires self-assessment, according to "100+ Winning Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions," by consultant Casey Hawley. Begin your preparation by asking yourself why you want this new job. Why are you passionate about this company? Why are you excited to come to work every day? Why is this business so rewarding? What have you done in your present job that you're most proud of? Study these questions and write your answers. If you have met higher sales targets each year for the past three years, plan to talk about it. Experience and Skills Your interviewer wants to know more about your job experience. You already are an employee of the company, and your performance reviews describe increasingly higher performance. Use the performance review to your benefit when he asks "How will you use your skills and experience in this new job?" If you're a salesperson bidding for a sales management position, recap your performance for the interviewer: "Over the past three years, I've managed the Midwest territory. I have mastered time management. I make 100 calls a day to get 15 appointments. I can teach time management and goal-setting to salespeople, and I can encourage them to use these tools to make more sales." Job Compatibility Your interviewer wants to know how well your experience, personality, and objectives fit the job's requirements. Prepare an overview of the positive and negative aspects of your present job. A balanced assessment of your current job performance paves the way to addressing what you're seeking in a promotion, suggests "Three Hundred One Smart Answers To Tough Interview Questions," by Vicky Oliver. For example: "The Southeast territory lost several key clients in the last quarter. I work closely with the salesperson because we cover a national account together. She explained her concerns about the accounts before we lost them. As a sales manager, I will work to maintain our accounts as we grow new sales." Professionalism and Leadership Your interviewer wants to know more about your leadership potential and professional character. Avoid saying "I'm a leader." Instead, demonstrate creativity, resourcefulness, initiative and leadership in the present position. For example, you have been part of a project from inception to completion. The project was under water for the first six months and management was concerned about sales performance. Your project management skills helped streamline project execution. Without telling the interviewer how you saved the project, bring an example of the weekly project tasks to discuss: "The team has the skills to complete a large project. We proved our ability to perform. All we needed was some definition -- writing down what each team member proposed to do by a due date kept us on track." Demonstrate tact and model management behaviors.