Interview Tips

[BMRed]

Background: I was contacted by a headhunter before Christmas regarding a job opportunity. I have an upcoming interview for a role that involves managing a team. While I am highly experienced in my field, I have not had direct experience in people management in my previous roles. However, I do have experience leading a team of six volunteers at my current company for an employee resource group, which consists of over 750 members.

I am seeking advice on how to answer potential questions about my experience with managing people. With my volunteers, I have been involved in their promotion processes in their day roles, provided career feedback, and understood their strengths in order to utilise their expertise and passions effectively.

Cheers

[Slowboathome]

A couple of suggestions:

1. Don't feel your experience of managing volunteers is somehow second best. Managing volunteers can be tricky. Give detailed examples of how you've successfully handled some of the more challenging people issues.

2. You may have quite a lot of relevant examples in your professional life even though you haven't been a formal team leader. Eg, training people, giving feedback or supervising.