In the past I have had been the interviewee and the
interviewer for the role of a Business Relationship Manager, I have also helped
other in preparing for interview which they have said has been a great help, so
below are some questions to help out anyone else.
There are the obvious standard interview questions you need
to prepare for like the following:
1) What
made you apply for this role?
2) Where
do you see yourself in five years’ time?
3) Why
should we employ you?
But what about specific Business Relationship Manager role
questions? These are the real important ones and will be a test of your BRM skills, below are a selection of ones I have encountered:
1) Describe
a time you delivered a large amount of measurable value to the business.
2) Give
an example of when you have had to deliver a solution to meet conflicting stakeholder
requirements.
3) How
do you prioritize one business units requests over another which require the
same internal provider resource?
4) At
what level do you see as the best fit for the Business Relationship Manager
function within an organisation?
5) What
tasks would you see fall outside of the remit of the Business Relationship
Manager role?
6) How
would you help implement a new service or a large change to an existing service
which has been introduced from within the provider?
7) What
situation would you find where you would have to say ‘No’ to an important
stakeholder?
8) How
would you keep up to date with internal and external capabilities to ensure the
business had access to the most suitable solutions?
9) How
do you see the Business Relationship Manager function expanding and maturing to meet growing
needs?
10) If the provider and the business have a
difference of opinions how would you help resolve the issue?
11) Give an example of when you have had to communicate complex technical information to senior non-technical people.
12) Give an example of a strategic plan you have set and implemented to deliver long term value.
13) Describe how you would approach a senior leader within the organisation compared with similar request from a lower level manager.
14) Give an example of how you have worked with diverse business cultures from different business units.
15) How will you continue to develop yourself as a Business Relationship Manager?
I find preparing answers to all the above and more means I go into the interview confident and ready for 90% of what will be thrown at me. You will still get the odd curve ball but that's fine, just take your time and if you don't know be honest and say you will have to get back to them later.
Also remember to have questions to ask your interviewer at
the end, it shows you have thought hard about the opportunity and it also gives
you a chance to interview them. After all they will be lucky to have such an
experienced and valuable BRM if you deem them good enough to accept their offer!
I hope the above helps some people, good luck and happy BRM job hunting!
