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