Inventory Manager interview questions and answers

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Inventory Manager Interview Questions

Inventory managers ensure you always have just the right amount of stock to satisfy customers and keep costs low. People who excel in this profession are highly efficient, astute and committed to quality and accuracy.

Experience as inventory manager is typically required. They usually have a bachelor’s or associate’s degree in accounting, supply chain or relative field. Sometimes experience can serve as a substitute for a degree depending on the company. Professional certification is a good way to identify the most knowledgeable candidates.

The following interview questions will give you an idea on how to evaluate candidates according to core qualities: their knowledge of inventory management concepts and procedures, their organizational skill and attention to detail. Inventory managers should also be excellent communicators, trustworthy and analytical. Often, they have supervisory duties so look for signs of an effective and dedicated leader.

Operational and Situational questions

• If you discovered an inventory error, how would you act?
• Imagine one of your orders wasn’t delivered on time creating a risk that the inventory would be soon inadequate to cover demand. How do you resolve this? How do you protect inventory from such occurrences?
• If I asked you to conduct forecasting analysis to optimize our inventory, how would you go about it?

Role-specific questions

• How good are you in math on a scale from 1 to 10?
• Are you familiar with cycle counting? Why would you use it?
• How is EOQ important and how do you use it?
• How do you calculate the value of inventory?
• Have you used ABC analysis of inventory control? Can you explain it to me?
• What do you know of Material Requirements Planning (MRP)  systems?
• What do you think COGS means to our business?
• How do you ensure accuracy in documenting inventory?

Behavioral questions

• Tell me what you did to ensure inventory meets quality standards in your previous job
• Recall a time when you implemented an optimized procedure for inventory management
• Describe a time you showed excellent leadership
• Tell me about a time you had a conflict with the logistics or accounting department. How did you resolve it?