Club Manager Interview Preparation Guide

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I would find out what is wrong with the customer. If it was the product I would offer to replace it (mention you would check with your manager first). If the customer was unhappy because they could not find a particular item I would find it for them and not just point them in a general direction.
Say you feel it is important to keep the customer happy as an unhappy customer will never return.

The application process was online. They had a kiosk you would go to and fill out. The interview process was rather quick. It’s your basic straightforward questions, like what you see yourself doing in such amount of time, how you can help the company.

An innocent question. But a question that if answered improperly, can be a deal breaker. While many individuals will be looking to a new job as a means of increasing their salary, “not being paid well enough at your last job” is not something you want to mention to your interviewer. After all, are you not likely to leave this particular job if you found you could make more down the street?

This is often when an interviewer starts and boy can it be intimidating to field this open-ended question. It’s important to know that the answer to this question should be focused and relevant to the job you’re applying for while revealing a little about your personality. You should come up with a personal elevator pitch that is appropriate for the type of job you’re trying to land. You might start with an extremely brief personal bio – where you went to school, what your primary school interest is, if you’ve had another job before. Bridge into talking about your specific interests that align with the job at hand (e.g. if it’s a sales position you might talk about how comfortable you are with people).

Demonstrates task management skills.

An easy question to answer well with one caveat – don’t slam your fellow interviewee’s. On the one hand, you have an opportunity to really stand out from the pack. Alternatively, You shouldn’t assume the skills of other applicants. Focus on your own strengths, and if the interviewer hasn’t given you an opportunity to mention that one “slam dunk” quality about yourself, now would be the time.

Is there a wrong way to answer this question? Consider the responses below:

☛ “I really need a job right now”
☛ “I need the money”
☛ “Your office is really close to my house”
☛ “I’ve always been interested in what you guys do”

For this question, you want to reread the job description and find key skills they are looking for and restate those skills. For example, suppose I was applying for a position of Cashier. More than likely they will be looking for people with great communication skills, quick learner, and someone with an attention to detail. So in the example of a cashier interview, when asked why should I hire you state

☛ I have great communication skills and will work well with other customers.
☛ I am a quick learner and will not have any issues learning the point of sale system.
☛ I have great attention to detail and will make sure accurate scanning and correct change is done correctly.

Try and relate how your previous work experience relates to the job you are applying to at Sam’s Club. For example, most jobs want you to work with customers so if you have customer service experience now is the time to mention it.
If this is your first job tell them you have been focusing on school and now you are excited to prove yourself in the workforce.

Ever since my first paper route at age 10 I’ve been doing something to keep myself busy and earn money. Back then, it was obviously about earning some spending money. What I didn’t realize was that I was actually starting the journey of establishing what I liked to do and how I fit in to the grand scheme of things. I then worked as a junior computer tech in my last 2 summers of high school. It was here that I discovered what I was passionate about and what I wanted to do. I enrolled in college to get my degree in computer sciences, and I have been working around technology ever since.

Shows ability to handle tense situations.

If going to college or university state what you would like to be doing after you finish.

Be clear about what job you’re applying for.

Reveals expectations about the position.

At Sam’s Club, I was a cart pusher, and I pushed shopping carts.

☛ What is the role of an engineering manager?
☛ What was your purpose in moving into management?
☛ What are you looking for in your next role?
☛ Why are you leaving your current role?
☛ Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
☛ What is the difference between leadership and management?
☛ What is the largest team you have ever managed?
☛ What size team are u looking to manage?
☛ How big a team are you comfortable to manage?
☛ What are the differences and tradeoffs between managing a small team and a large team?
☛ What is the composition of your current (or last) team, and how is your team organized?
☛ How would your current (or last) team describe you?
☛ How hands-on are you with the team? Are you involved in coding, design reviews, architecture, etc.?
☛ Do you have experience managing remote teams or individuals? What is different about that?
☛ What kinds of meetings do you hold to run your team?
☛ Do you have any questions for me?

☛ What do you look for when hiring?
☛ Tell me about the diversity on your team.
☛ What do you do ensure you have diversity?
☛ How do you recruit and hire in SF Bay Area (because it is so hard and competitive)?

☛ Tell me a time you had a conflict with another manager and how you resolved it.
☛ Tell me about a time you did not see eye to eye with your manager and how you resolved it.
☛ Tell me about a time there was a conflict between members of your team and how you resolved it.

☛ How would you describe your leadership style?
☛ Describe a time you led by example.
☛ What’s your approach to delegating employees? How do you ensure that tasks are carried out to completion?
☛ Describe someone you coached or mentored. What were they doing initially, and what are they doing now?
☛ How would you tell a colleague that he/she was underperforming?
☛ Talk about the time you led an important meeting.
☛ Talk about a successful work project involving multiple teams. What was your role in facilitating the project? What was the result?
☛ Have you ever had to execute a project with a small budget, or a lack of resources? How did you address these issues?
☛ Tell me about a time when your team was struggling to meet business goals. What happened? What did you do about it?
☛ Talk about a successful work project. What was your goal? What was the result?
☛ What changes did you make that resulted in increasing productivity, improving efficiency, or lowering costs?
☛ Walk us through a typical day at your last position. How do you prioritize your tasks?
☛ What are some industry trends that have an impact on your role as a manager?
☛ Why are you interested in our company? What is the relationship between this job and your career goals?

☛ How do you manage multiple requests to your team? How do you deal with competing priorities?
☛ Did you ever disagree with your product manager about the priority of tasks or if something needed to be done at all?
☛ How do you see the tradeoffs between scope, quality, and schedule?
☛ How do you work with product managers, UX team, etc.?
☛ Tell me about a project you are most proud of.
☛ Tell me about a time you exceeded expectations and went above and beyond.
☛ Tell me a time when a project you were responsible for was late or not meeting expectations. What did you do?
☛ Tell me a mistake you made that hurt the business.
☛ What was your biggest failure?
☛ What are you not good at?

☛ What was some difficult feedback you had to give recently? and why was it hard?
☛ What was some difficult feedback that you received? and why was it hard to receive?
☛ How you do coaching and career development?
☛ Tell me about a few people on your team and the career development plans you created with them.
☛ How do you coach engineers on your team that are smarter and better engineers than you?
☛ Have you ever promoted anyone?
☛ How have you managed low performers?
☛ Tell me about a time you turned around a low performer.
☛ Have you ever had to fire someone?
☛ How often do you do 1 on 1s?
☛ What is the structure of your 1 on 1s?

☛ What is the role of a tech lead?
☛ What is the relationship between the engineering manager and tech lead?
☛ What if all your team is new and junior and you don’t have a tech lead? What if no one on your team wants to be a tech lead, or do the things tech leads do?
☛ How do you grow and develop tech leads?
☛ Have you ever disagreed with one of your tech leads?
☛ What do you do, or say, if one of your engineers is really pushing hard for a new sexy technology (assume: you don’t agree it is the right choice)?
☛ How do you ensure (code) quality and keep a lid on tech debt?
☛ How do you establish ownership in your teams?

Reveals more about candidate’s coaching process.

You want to answer this question in a way your greatest weakness does not impact your ability to work at Sam’s Club. State something like

☛ I am a workaholic and I neglect my friends and family or
☛ When I get caught up in m work I don’t take enough personal time for myself.

Many consider this question to be a loaded gun – dangerous in the hands of the inexperienced. Often times, an interviewee will start talking salary before they’ve had an opportunity to illustrate their skill set and value making any sort of leverage valueless. Here, knowledge is power, as salary often comes down to negotiation. Do some research into your industry to establish base rates of pay based on seniority and demand but keep in mind – your employer is hiring you for what they believe you are worth, and how much benefit they feel you will provide.

Even though the completely honest answer might be “I just want money,” you’re going to have to dig a little deeper to answer this question. What appeals to you about the job – do you admire the company, do you want to learn a new skill that they can offer? This question is a little bit about flattering the company/interview, but mostly it’s about getting to the core of why you would be happy with this job and want to show up every day. So before you head to the interview, take some time to figure it out!