Branch Manager interview questions and answers

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Branch Manager Interview Questions

A branch manager will usually have a degree in business administration or a related field. The common educational path into this role makes a conversation about this a good benchmark and starting point for the interview.

Typically this is a role that demands experience in a managerial position. You can ask them specific questions to understand whether they know what a branch manager has to do or must have. Experience in customer service or sales is also helpful. You can find out if they have the right skills by asking them to describe specific events and relate what they learned that was relevant to branch management.

Apart from education and experience, it is vital that a branch manager possesses the soft skills required of someone in a managerial position. Leadership, organizational ability, problem-solving and conflict resolution are all essential and should be assessed. You can explore these by asking behavioral as well as situational questions. The candidate’s approach to difficult situations or challenges can speak volumes for their effectiveness.

Operational and Situational questions

• Envisage a conflict between two people working for you. How would you approach them and how would you resolve the situation?
• You believe your opinion to be 100% correct, but your subordinates and superiors disagree. How would approach both groups? 
• What would you do with an employee who is underperforming?
• Imagine there is a conflict between different departments of the branch for a share of the budget. How do you resolve this?
• Imagine there is conflict between your branch and another for a share of the budget. How do you make your case?
• Would you encourage competition or collaboration with other branches?

Role-specific questions

• What are the top priorities of a branch manager?
• How would you measure performance and what performance metrics have you used before?
• What are KPIs? What is benchmarking and how do you do it?
• What information do you need to make forecasts?
• How would you allocate responsibilities? What is important to know about your subordinates?
• What leadership style would you employ under different circumstances?
• Tell us about a couple of the most important best practices in management?
• Give us some ideas on how you would increase the branch’s revenues?

Behavioral questions

• Tell us about a time you had to deal with a difficult customer.
• Tell us about a difficult situation you overcame in the past. Taking into account your current experience what would you have done differently?
• Describe a time when you had to make a difficult managerial decision. What happened?
• Tell me about a time you had to motivate your team. How did it work out?
• How did you previous work experience prepare you for this role?
• If you got this position, what would be your long term goals?