Retail and hospitality
A first interview for a store manager should show whether a candidate can run a team, understand the store’s numbers, and keep standards up on a Saturday when two people don’t show up. Ask about real stores and real decisions. General talk about leadership tells you very little.
Follow-up questions show whether a candidate made the decisions they describe or watched someone else make them.
What to look for
The questions
Ask them in order. Listen for real details: what happened, what the candidate did, and how it ended.
Strong answer
Breaks it down: how many people came in, how many bought something, how much each spent, whether stock was on the shelves and whether there were enough staff at busy times. Then picks one thing to fix first.
Weak answer
Blames the weather or head office, or says they’d tell the team to sell more.
Strong answer
Checks the process first, like deliveries, price reductions and counting errors, then looks for patterns by time and area, and follows the company’s theft-prevention process without accusing anyone too early.
Weak answer
Assumes staff are stealing and starts questioning people.
Strong answer
Has a fair rule for requests that everyone knows, talks to both, looks for cover or a split, and explains the decision directly.
Weak answer
Gives it to whoever asked first without thinking, or refuses both to avoid the conversation.
Strong answer
Describes the specific gap, the feedback they gave, what they changed in the person’s shifts or training, and how they checked progress.
Weak answer
Talks about motivating people in general terms.
Strong answer
Starts from last year’s busy hours, makes sure deliveries and checkouts are covered, books extra staff early, and keeps a backup list.
Weak answer
Adds more hours for everyone and hopes it works out.
Strong answer
Listens to the customer and puts it right for them, then hears the staff member’s side privately before deciding what happens.
Weak answer
Disciplines the employee on the spot, or dismisses the customer to protect the team.
Strong answer
Sets it up as asked, tracks the results, and makes a specific case for changing it, backed by those results.
Weak answer
Ignores the instruction, or complains to the team about head office.
Strong answer
Explains the steps that led there, how they documented it, how the conversation went, and how they looked after the rest of the team.
Weak answer
Has always avoided it, or describes it with no process at all.
Before the interview
Short form questions the candidate answers before the interview. You read the answers next to the interview. They aren’t scored.
Listen for
Avoid
Use this in LessRounds
Paste the questions into a scripted interview, where the AI reads each question word for word. Add the skills from the scorecard, then share one link. Every store manager candidate gets the same questions. You get a score for each skill, with the candidate’s own words that explain it.
People and day-to-day running of the store. Ask about coaching, scheduling, missing stock and missed targets. Those are the problems a store manager solves every week.
Both can work. Interview internal candidates the same way as outside ones, with the same questions, so the decision rests on how they answer rather than who they already know.
Start with 100 free credits, enough for about 20 interviews. No credit card or sales call needed.