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Vendor Manager Interview Questions

1

How do you present to leadership?

Open-ended

2

Tell me about a time when you took on something significant outside your area of responsibility. Why was it important? What was the outcome?

Behavioral

3

Tell me about a time when an internal team was not meeting your standards and how you were able to coach them to improve/up their standards? How did you go about it?

Behavioral

4

Tell me about a project you were managing where a dispute between stakeholders threatened the success of the project, and what did you do?

Behavioral

5

Tell me about a time when a project you were managing was running seriously behind schedule, and what did you do about it?

Behavioral

6

You are tasked with creating a new program only knowing the desired result and given no additional information, how do you make sure the program achieves this desired result?

Open-ended

7

How do you lead without authority?

Open-ended

8

Tell me about a time you have helped successfully manage P&L in your career?

Behavioral

9

What are the most important components of business strategy in your opinion?

Open-ended

10

Develop a generic roadmap for me without knowing any details.

Open-ended

11

Tell me about a time when you influenced someone to see things your way?

Behavioral

12

Tell me about a time you scaled process that had a big impact across the organization?

Behavioral

13

Tell me about a time you utilized data to have amazing success?

Behavioral

14

What is the most entrepreneurial thing you have done in your career? Why is this your best example?

Behavioral

15

How do you optimize for cost while reducing risk of a partnership?

Open-ended

16

How do you access the risk of a new vendor relationship?

Open-ended

17

How do you identify operational challenges across verticals in an organization?

Open-ended

18

How do you source and prioritize business requirements?

Open-ended

19

How do you assess operational efficiency of a business unit?

Open-ended

20

What criteria would you follow when selecting suitable vendors?

Open-ended

21

What would you do if a vendor was unhappy about certain contractual obligations?

Open-ended

22

How would you address long-standing company vendors who failed to perform their duties adequately?

Open-ended

23

In your experience, what is the most effective way of monitoring vendor performance?

Open-ended

24

What are the biggest risks in a new vendor agreement?

Open-ended

25

What is the most efficient way to qualify new partnerships so you don't waste resources?

Open-ended

26

Tell me about how you were able to translate the needs of the organization into a successful vendor partnership?

Behavioral

27

Tell me about a time you had a partnership fail. What did you learn from it and how did you apply that learning future partnerships?

Behavioral

28

Tell me about a time you enhanced an existing vendor partnership.

Behavioral

29

Provide an example of when you�ve been able to see around the corner to meet the needs of a business organization?

Behavioral

30

Tell me about the most unique client challenge you have faced in your career?

Behavioral

31

Tell me about your most creative vendor partnership?

Behavioral

32

Tell me about a project you were managing where a dispute between stakeholders threatened the success of the project, and what did you do?

Behavioral

33

Tell me about a time that someone criticized your work

Behavioral

34

Tell me about a time when a project you were managing was running seriously behind schedule, and what did you do about it?

Behavioral

35

Tell me about a time when an internal team was not meeting your standards and how you were able to coach them to improve/up their standards? How did you go about it?

Behavioral

36

Tell me about a time when you had to communicate a major change to your team? How did you go about it, how did your team respond?

Behavioral

37

Tell me about a time when you created an vendor partnership from scratch

Behavioral

38

Tell me about a time you had to manage a project with a tight timeline and tight budget?

Behavioral

39

Tell me how you communicated with your previous managers?

Behavioral

40

How do you access the needs and requirements of a new partnership?

Behavioral

41

Tell me about a time when you implemented a successful strategy with a business unit. I want to know what happened and what were the results.

Behavioral

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