Social Service Manager Interview Questions
Go Back1. How do you evaluate competing priorities when budgets are limited?
2. Have you ever made the decision to cut a program? What was the reason, and what was the result?
3. Describe a situation in which you were able to strengthen a relationship by communicating effectively. What made your communication effective?
4. Tell me about your communication style.
5. What experience do you have developing and implementing policy?
6. Tell me about an especially effective community program you initiated or led. What made it successful?
7. Tell me about your experience with inter-agency collaboration.
8. How do you get the community involved in the programs your team creates?
9. What is your experience with direct client support?
10. Tell me about a time you successfully adapted to a culturally different environment.
11. What experience do you have setting program eligibility requirements?
12. Why did you choose to pursue a career as a social service manager?
13. Why are you the best candidate for this position?
14. If hired for this position, how would you approach the first three months on the job?
15. How do you manage stress in your daily work? How do you manage employees who are negatively affected by stress?
16. How do you approach training new staff and ensuring that continuing staff are provided with ongoing opportunities for professional development?
17. How would you handle a situation in which your senior management or board of directors asked for an outcome that you believed to be impossible to accomplish, given the resources available?
18. In general, how would you go about marketing a community program that is underutilized?
19. What marketing techniques should be considered when introducing a new program or service to the community?
20. What is one area in which you'd like to improve professionally? What steps might you take to improve?
21. Describe a situation in which you had a positive influence on your team's work.
22. On which skills do you rely most in your work as a social service manager?
23. Tell me about your leadership skills. What kind of leader would your current employees or colleagues say you are?
24. Describe a time you came up with a creative solution to a problem in your past work.
25. Have you had to discipline an employee or fire an employee? How did you handle that situation?
26. Tell me about your supervisory style.
27. What factors do you consider when making hiring decisions?
28. Explain how you approach managing volunteers differently from managing employees.
29. How would you describe your typical role on a team?
30. Describe a team experience you found rewarding.