Forecasting interview questions

You will conduct a 30-minute interview with a business professional who has experience with Forecasting and Inventory Management. During the interview, ask permission to submit their first name, last name, and email address as elements of your interview summary, in case your professor wants to check-in with them on their thoughts of the interview.

As the person conducting the interview, you should dress professionally for the interview, and be prepared with some initial research of the person you are interviewing (review their LinkedIn profile) as well as, their organization (online research, corporate website, etc.). The point is to show up as a business professional, and to be properly prepared and engaged for the interview. You will be asking the questions, and you should be prepared to be an active listener and to ask pertinent follow-on questions.

The three main question sets you are to ask, allowing about 10 minutes of discussion each, are:

Question Set 1: (Forecasting) Does your organization use both qualitative and quantitative forecasting methods? What methods do you use to support your business with forecasting (examples: regression analysis, Delphi Method)? Is there a special team focused on forecasting, or is it a responsibility of each professional within your organization?

Question Set 2: (Inventory Management) How does your organization implement inventory management? What types of information systems does your organization utilize to support effective inventory management? Does your organization implement JIT, Just-In-Time, or some other form of lean applied to inventory?

Question Set 3: (Reflection on Operations Management) Take a moment to share and reflect, with the professional you interview, on what you have learned during our term, focused on operations management. After reflection, continue to discussion with the following questions. How does operations management ensure the “mission happens” for a successful organization? How does the “puzzle pieces” of various traditional areas of business connect within your organization? Does your organization have a vertical (mechanistic) or horizontal (organic) organizational structure? Do you have a top “lesson learned” related to effective operations for a business?