If you're a graduate looking to get into leadership and need to get a feel for the kind of questions employers might ask at interview, then make sure you research these graduate leadership interview questions below. These questions and answers are taken from real graduate interviews, and compiled to give you an idea of what to expect and how to prepare your answers.
Example Leadership Interview Questions:
Tell me about a time when you have failed as a leader
A question like this may throw you off, talking about a time you haven’t done well as opposed to the traditional ‘tell me when you’ve lead a team successfully’. In your example, make sure you talk about the challenge and why it was that you failed. Discuss how you have since gone about preventing that failure from happening again in the future, e.g. did you seek feedback? Did you analyse what went wrong? It is important to explain why the failure has developed you and made you a stronger leader.
Describe a time you took a leadership position without being titled ‘the leader’
Talk about how you were part of a group and took responsibility to delegate or divide tasks amongst others. Think about why the other members of the group decided to listen to you. Perhaps talk about a project you completed at university, how you went about the delegation, how the group members reacted to your leadership, and ultimately how the project went under your leadership.
As a leader, how do you motivate your team?
Some leaders think pay or incentives are always the way; however here are a number of different ways of motivating your team (although this is not always the case). There are a number of theorists such as Maslow, McGreggor, and McClelland which display different techniques. Starting out by initially finding out how your team members are motivated is a simple but effective way of catering to individual’s needs. Finding the right equilibrium between positive and constructive feedback is key to helping boost both morale and performance. Acting with integrity can provide your team members with a sense of pride and respect for yourself and your organisation/team.