Interview Questions to Hire Plant Manager

Plant Managers look after high-value and high-risk plant equipment, which usually performs various duties across a specific site that requires a plant, such as recycling plants, building sites, etc. The Plant manager is the responsible person for acquiring, checking, decommissioning, and removing the plant, along with ensuring its annual inspections and maintenance, and upkeep. 

Plant Managers usually have a background in engineering, whether this is educational or gained through work experience or on-the-job training. Plant managers must have a keen eye for detail, strong communication skills, in-depth knowledge of health and safety guidelines, and safe working and operating procedures.

Skill-based questions

It is good practice to ask various types of questions, including skill-based, role-specific, behavioral, and situational questions, to identify strong candidates.

• What is an annual inspection, and why is it important?
• You have a piece of plant machinery that is old and is costing a lot in repairs. What do you do?
• What is the largest inventory of plants you have taken care of?
• What plant machinery are you most familiar with?
• What are safe working procedures?
• Have you ever reviewed or implemented processes to improve the effectiveness and use of plants on your site?

Situational & Behavioural questions

• You have a machine that has over 20,000 hours on the clock. What should you do with this vehicle?
• Tell me what annual plant inspections are for. Why do they have to be completed, and who completes them?
• You are asked to produce reports on the productivity of an old fleet of plants. How do you collect this information?
• You are completing training with a plant operator and notice something in the safe working procedure that concerns you. What do you do?
• What are standard operating procedures, and why are they important?

General Questions

• What are some things you would like to achieve in your work career within the next five years?
• What have you done in your career so far to learn and develop yourself professionally?
• Why did you decide to enter the plant machinery industry?
• What are the top three skills you have that you think you can transfer to this role?
• Why have you applied for this role? How do you think you will benefit from working in the role?

Conclusion

The questions above will help you to identify quality candidates who are going through your recruitment process. Remember to look for candidates who demonstrate strong communication skills, strong leadership and management abilities, and the confidence to learn and adapt to a changing environment whilst meeting deadlines.