Maintenance Supervisor interview questions and answers

Maintenance Supervisor Interview Questions

A maintenance supervisor is responsible for the upkeep and repair of facilities, supervising maintenance personnel. People commonly get to this position after working as maintenance technicians, helpers or tradespeople.

Determine your candidate requirements according to your needs. For example, if you’re a property management company, your maintenance supervisor should have experience with residential building systems. If you operate in an industrial setting (e.g. energy plant), you may prefer candidates with relevant experience and more specialized technical knowledge. Ask questions tailored specifically for your company to assess the candidate’s fit.

Due to the supervisory duties of this position, both experience and leadership skills are essential. Try to also evaluate them in key areas such as problem-solving, training skills and attention to detail. Respect to health & safety, company regulations and budget is critical.

Operational and Situational questions

• How do you go about allocating work to subordinates?
• How do you ensure others have understood your instructions?
• Imagine a manager asks you whether it’s better to replace or repair a certain machine. How would you determine the answer?
• If there was a very important repair to be done that might exceed the allocated budget, what would you do?
• Imagine you need to create a training plan for new employees. What should they be trained in?
• If a contractor you hired had an accident while working, what would you do?

Role-specific questions

• What do you enjoy most in this job?
• What kind of maintenance duties did you undertake in your previous position?
• What does ISO 14001 refer to?
• What’s your experience with HVAC systems?
• How familiar are you with Preventive Maintenance Regulations?
• What’s your experience with PLC?
• Have you done electrical system repairs in the past?

Behavioral questions

• Tell me about a time you successfully coached a maintenance technician
• Describe a time you failed to provide good leadership. Why did that happen and what did you learn from the experience?
• Recall a time when you had to solve a problem without input from a manager. How did you handle it and what happened in the end?
• Give an example of a time you managed to identify and fix a problem before it became urgent
• Tell me about a time you hired personnel (e.g. maintenance technicians). How did you go about it and what qualities did you look for?