25 Learning and Development Manager Interview Questions: An Informative Guide

Written by Jayla Cosentino
8 minutes read

If you’re looking for a job as a Learning and Development Manager, you’ll likely have to go through interviews to find out if there is a match between you, the role you’re applying for, and the organization. Whether you’re preparing for an interview or you’re hiring an L&D Manager, use this Learning and Development Manager interview questions guide to prepare for the recruitment process.

Content
What is a Learning and Development Manager?
General personal and motivation questions
Experience interview questions
Behavioral interview questions
Technical interview questions

What is a Learning and Development Manager?

Before we get into Learning and Development Manager interview questions, let’s quickly refresh on what this job does in an organization. A Learning and Development Manager (L&D Manager) oversees the professional development of the employees in their company. Through training and personal development plans, they help their team get to their full potential, which will support the goals of the organizations they work for.

Large corporations usually have an L&D department, whereas smaller businesses typically allocate these tasks to the Human Resources team.

When looking to expand the team in this department, companies will conduct interviews to see if there is a match between a candidate’s experiences and the organization’s needs. Interviews also help determine if you are motivated for the role and company and if you are a cultural fit.

Learning and Development Manager Role

General personal and motivation questions

Many interviewers like starting with general personal and motivation questions during an interview. Not only are they an excellent icebreaker to get you more comfortable speaking, but they also provide key insights on what you find important. 

Tell me about yourself.

This open-ended and somewhat ambiguous question is one of the most popular questions interviewers start with – from phone interviews to final rounds. Recruiters and hiring managers use it to break the ice during the interview and get an idea of who you are.  

This question should be seen as a way to summarize your background, skills, and competencies. Keep this answer concise because you will be answering more detailed questions later.

Why do you want to work for us?

This question is essential for any role but has even more importance for Learning and Development. How can you motivate others to develop themselves if you aren’t inspired to be there! To answer this question, you’ll want to do research on the company before the interview. You should bring up the organization’s values, culture, and other facts that motivate you to work for them.

Tell me about your past work experiences.

This question is similar to tell me about yourself and can also be used as an icebreaker question. Use this time to be concise. If you have 10+ years of experience, you don’t need to discuss your education in detail or list every company you worked at – just pick out the most similar roles to the job you are applying for.

Why are you interested in this job?

Similar to the question above, this is a great moment to let your potential employer know why you want to work for them as an L&D Manager. To answer this question, bring up the aspects of the job you are most excited about. You can also bring in the skills and experiences you have that will allow you to do this job well. 

Why are you looking for a new job? 

Many recruiters will ask you why you are looking for a new position or why you’ve already left your old role. When asking this question, recruiters and hiring managers want to ensure that their job won’t present the same challenges. For example, if you left because you dislike hierarchy, but the new company is also very hierarchical, it won’t be the best fit. 

Answering this question can be easy or difficult, depending on your situation. If you were let go because your company had to downsize or you needed a new challenge, it’s okay to be truthful with your answer. On the other hand, the answer can be tricky if you left due to a culture mismatch or were asked to leave. It’s good to start with a positive sentence about your current company or job – you’ll never want to be too negative about previous employers. Then, formulate your answer to convince your interviewer that the job you are interviewing for aligns with your goals. 

What motivates you? 

In this question, recruiters and hiring managers look for things the company or the team can do to keep you motivated. Motivated employees are more productive and are more likely to stay in a company long-term. There may be many things that motivate you personally, such as the salary or benefits of a job.

However, the best way to answer this question is to align your motivation with what the job offers. For example, if you are motivated by working in teams and the job is very team-oriented, this would be a great thing to discuss. 

What demotivates you? 

Like the answer above, hiring managers ask this question to understand you better and what will keep you in the team long term. You can be truthful about what you don’t enjoy in your work but be careful; you don’t want to be too negative. If you give off the impression that you won’t enjoy your job because it includes things that demotivate you, it will negatively impact a hiring managers’ decision.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

This question is asked to ensure the company has the right growth path for the candidate. You don’t need to know precisely where you see yourself, but being as open as possible will allow for more transparency and better expectations of growth later.

You may also find out that your dream to become a team manager is not possible where you are interviewing, so it’s an excellent exploratory question for the candidate. 


Experience interview questions

Interview questions specifically about your work experience help hiring manager predict how well you will be able to do the job they have open on their team. 

These questions differ widely depending on the seniority of the position you are applying for. Some of the questions will correlate to the experience you mention on your resume, while others may be very general.

Here are some examples questions:

  1. How do you organize your training sessions?
  2. What steps do you take to prepare for a training session?
  3. Tell me about your background in creating training materials.
  4. Tell me about your experience with leading teams.
  5. What is your greatest accomplishment in your learning and development career?
  6. How do you approach different learning styles?
  7. What have you found are the most prominent challenges employees face in developing their professional skills? 
  8. How do you help employees use their unique skills and talents?
  9. What is your background in strategic planning for learning and development?

How to answer these experience-based interview questions

You should be clear and concise with all answers – it can sometimes be easy to get off-topic or answer with too many details. Instead, think about how you can answer with one real-life example of a past situation and what the results were. The closer you match your examples to what you’ll be doing in this new role, the stronger the interview will be.

If you have any additional relevant qualifications for the role, like a Learning & Development Certificate, this is the right moment to mention them.

Behavioral interview questions

Every interviewer in every interview will ask you behavioral questions – meaning how you reacted to a particular situation at work. They help hire teams to determine your soft skills such as problem-solving, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, etc. How you respond to the situation might also indicate how you will handle a similar situation in the future, too. 

  1. Share an example of how you helped coach or mentor someone. What improvements did you see in that person? 
  2. Tell me about a time that you had an issue with an employee during training. How did you approach and resolve the problem?
  3. Can you give an example of how managed capability building across levels in the past?
  4. Can you tell me about a time you gave an unsuccessful training? What did you learn from it? 
  5. Tell me about a time when your training(s) led to improvements for a company. 
  6. Have you ever received negative feedback after an employee training session? If so, how did you respond?
  7. Give an example of a training strategy that you have successfully implemented. What made it successful? 
  8. Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone very different from you. How did you adapt to collaborate better?

How to answer behavioral questions 

The most straightforward way to answer these questions is by using the STAR method technique. It will help you share the details of your example in an easy-to-understand way without getting off-topic. 

  • Situation: Explain a situation in your experience that is relevant to the question.
  • Task: Describe what your responsibility was in that situation.
  • Action: What action(s) did you take to manage the situation?
  • Result: What was the result of your action(s)?

Technical interview questions

You may think technical interview questions are only limited to IT but think again. Companies emphasize using technology in their day-to-day work to meet changing industry and market requirements in today’s world. Below you will find some questions regarding your experience with technology: 

  1. Tell us about your experience with a particular learning and development tech.
  2. How do you incorporate technology into training sessions?
  3. How do you keep up with new developments and trends in learning and development?
  4. Do you have experience with virtual and remote training methods?
  5. How do you measure the success of your trainings? What data do you look at?  
  6. How do you evaluate training and program effectiveness? What tools do you use to track this? 
  7. What tools do you use to make training engaging and interactive? 

How to answer technical interview questions 

Practicing your answers to technical interview questions will help you showcase your skills. When answering these questions, it’s essential to mention the tools you are most comfortable with.

If you have worked with the company’s same tools, use this moment to explain that. If you have not used the same tools, no worries; use examples to show how you’ll be able to learn the tools quickly during your onboarding period. 


A final word

Whether you are getting ready for your next interview or considering hiring a Learning and Development Manager, starting with the 25 questions above will set you up for success in snagging a new role or hiring the best L&D manager out there.

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Jayla Cosentino

Jayla Cosentino is a recruitment professional who specializes in hiring teams for start-ups and scale-ups. She focuses on 360 recruitment as well as building and optimizing organizations’ recruitment processes. Passionate about everything recruitment and HR, Jayla has spoken at conferences organized by companies such as Honeypot.io and ProductUp, as well as at universities like the University of Utrecht.

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