When interviewing vendor managers, the most suitable candidate will demonstrate dedication, strong management skills, and the ability to negotiate effectively. Be wary of candidates who have poor analytical and decision-making skills.Special Offer
You will work with many vendors in this job. How do you plan to stay on the top of things?
Say that reporting and monitoring plays an important role in your work style. You do not rely on memory, or on luck. On the contrary, you plan to have a database of all vendors, with all important information about each business partner.
With clearly defined milestones, deadlines, and schedule of receiving goods, you can always rely on your database. What’s more, you like to have a to-do list at work, and will prepare one for each day or week. Staying organized and following plans, you should not find it difficult to stay on the top of things, and keep track of your cooperation with various vendors.
Interview Questions for Vendor Managers:
Demonstrates the candidate’s industry knowledge and experience.
In your opinion, what matters most when we try to develop good and long-standing relationships with the vendors?
I suggest you to emphasize individual approach to each vendor. This means meeting them in person, treating them according to the size of their business operations, expectations, and the type of cooperation you have together.
But it also means to take part in their fairs, or even team-building events, simply be present when things are happening. You should also suggest transparency and a clear system of policies and guarantees–for both contract parties, of course.
Ensure the hiring managers that you understand the power of personal and long-standing relationships with the vendors. Such relationships allow you to secure the best deals and to be sure about the quality of delivered goods. And that’s your goal after all.
Imagine that you meet a vendor of some basic goods, for example groceries, for the first time. What questions will you ask them during the interview?
This really depends on the type of vendor, but you won’t do wrong with the following questions, in dealing with any type of vendor:
Ensure the interviewers that you will inspect much more than just the price they offer. Asking about existing clients and references, quality standards, guarantees and payment models, you get a decent picture of each vendor and things you can expect from them.
How would you address long-standing company vendors who failed to perform their duties adequately?
Demonstrates the candidate’s communication and management skills.
Expect interviewers to ask you a variety of inventory management interview questions to demonstrate your ability to manage a lean, optimal inventory operation to maximize profits.
Be warned: the punishment may be self-inflicted! Amazonians have been known spot, on a candidate’s resume, a foreign or programming language skill. From there, the interviewer then tests your Java programming skills or Chinese language skills. Java and Chinese might not be related to your job, but in their mind, it’s a great interview question to see how you react to ambiguity!
This one shouldn’t be unexpected. As a vendor manager, you’ve got to work with suppliers. Also known as vendors, these suppliers might not always easy to work with or align to Amazon’s goals. These questions test how you would influence or convince vendors to do what you want.
Interview tip: answer the hypothetical question with an answer that describes your hypothetical approach. From there, back it up with a real-life example of when you used the hypothetical approach. To create satisfying stories, use my Amazon stories template for Amazon leadership principles interview questions.
A variation on behavioral interview questions, Amazonians like to also ask hypothetical interview questions, especially as they relate to their Amazon Leadership Principles.