Best interview questions for your hiring process
Risk Manager Interview questions
A Risk Manager analyses your company’s risk potential and is tasked with finding ways to identify, control, and reduce such risks. Through careful risk assessments and adequate risk prioritisation, a Risk Manager can implement an effective risk management strategy to limit the business’ risk potential.
Since a Risk Manager can have such an impact on your business (and its future) it’s important that you hire the best possible candidate for the job. To do so, you need to start by asking the right questions during the job interview. By asking questions that are tailored to the specific needs of this role, you will have a higher chance of finding the right candidate. Below, you will find a list of Risk Manager interview questions that will help you find that perfect fit.
Some great qualities and skills to look out for when interviewing someone for your Risk Manager role are:
- In-depth understanding of risk assessment methodology and execution of risk assessment strategies.
- Ability to communicate effectively and translate complex issues into easy to understand information.
- Strong analytical skills and a real fan of crunching numbers.
- A structured and organised way of working.
Need help attracting more talent for your interview? Multipost your job ad on 10+ job boards with JOIN—for FREE!
Interviewing a Risk Manager
Once you’ve filtered through the (hopefully) dozens of CVs and cover letters from people eager to become your new Risk Manager, it’s time to start the interview process. Given the importance of this position in your business, you must enter the interview prepared with the right questions. After all, a job interview requires as much preparation on the part of the interviewer as it does on the interviewee.
To help you get started, we’ve created a list of possible interview questions (and the type of answers you’re after). Do note that these questions are aimed at the early stages of the interview process. If it’s the second or third interview with this candidate, you might want to consider more in-depth questions to test their skills and expertise.
How to open the Risk Manager job interview
Remember how nervous you (most likely) have been yourself in the past when going for a job interview. Job interviews can be stressful and many candidates will struggle to control their nerves, especially at the start of the interview. That’s why we always recommend you begin the interview with a few easy and positive opening questions.
This helps the candidate settle in a bit more, while it’s also a good way to simply get the conversation started.
Best interview questions for your hiring process
See our Risk Manager Job Description hereFor the interview
A positive opener to start
Tell me a bit about yourself
Tell me what you enjoy most about being a Risk Manager
Why did you decide to become a Risk Manager?
Behavioral Questions
Tell me about a time when you struggled to build a relationship with someone high up in the business. How did you overcome that?
Tell me about a time you made a mistake. How did you handle it and what did you learn from it?
There is always the risk of making mistakes, especially in a role such as this where you have to make predictions based on data. This question shows you how the candidate deals with making mistakes.
Tell me about a time when you managed a long-term project. How did you ensure everything kept moving forward in a timely manner?
Risk Management often involves assessing business risks over an extended time. A successful candidate should be able to handle long-term projects.
Tell me about a time you had to adjust to sudden changes at work. How did you handle the situation?
This question shows you how easily the candidate adapts to change. In this particular role, you have to always be prepared for sudden changes and shifting priorities.
Soft Skills
You’re presenting your findings during a meeting but your colleagues don’t seem engaged. What do you do?
Presenting findings to the rest of the company is an important part of the Risk Manager role. This question gives you an idea of how the candidate would engage colleagues during their presentations.
What do you think are some of the most important qualities a Risk Manager should possess?
This will show you a bit more about what the candidate thinks makes a great Risk Manager and how they fit that description.
Can you give me an example that shows your attention to detail?
A Risk Manager needs to have impeccable attention to detail. A large part of the job consists of crunching numbers and creating projections based on large amounts of data and the smallest typo can skew their projections. This makes this an essential skill to have for a Risk Manager.
Hard Skills
How much experience do you have in creating and presenting risk assessment reports?
Reporting is one of the key tasks of a Risk Manager. Asking this question will teach you a bit more about their experience in this field.
Explain the meaning of risk breakdown structure (RBS).
This is a very specific risk management question that’s just aimed at testing the candidate’s practical knowledge of risk management terminology. Adding a few questions like these in the interview can give you a good sense of the practical knowledge the candidate has.
Tell me a bit more about the daily routine of a Risk Manager.
Not only will this question show you how advanced the candidate is in the tasks they can perform, but it also gives you an idea of how they like to go about their workday.
What experience do you have with preparing budgets and making changes to existing budgets?
Risk Managers have to predict the financial risks involved with running a business, so working with company budgets is an important part of their job. This question gives you an idea of their experience in this field.
Operational / Situational Questions
Tell me about a time your calculations helped significantly reduce the company’s financial risk in a situation.
This question allows your candidate to showcase their proudest achievement as a Risk Manager. It’s a great indicator of the impact they can have on your business.
Tell me about a time you faced a major challenge in your work and explain how you dealt with it.
Risk management is all about analysing and overcoming challenges and solving problems. This question will show you how the candidate does just that.
Tell me about a time when you were under a lot of pressure. How did you handle this?
Risk Managers tend to have high-demanding jobs where they have to be able to deal with a lot of pressure. Asking the candidate for a detailed example gives you more insight into how they deal with such situations.
Start hiring and prepare your interview
All platforms are available for you to promote your job through JOIN.
Create job ad for free
As a Risk Manager, the candidate will often have to present their findings and recommendations to the higher management in the company. This question helps identify if the candidate can build relationships, even when this seems difficult at first.