Your complete guide to assessing warehouse manager skills

Does your company need a new warehouse manager?

Do you need to hire someone urgently, and are you wondering how to assess warehouse manager skills quickly, thoroughly, and efficiently?

Hiring isn’t always a simple task.

There are various stages to the hiring process, and if you want to find out if your candidates’ skills are suited to your business, you need to know how to assess warehouse manager skills quickly and accurately.

Therefore, we’ll cover how to properly evaluate warehouse manager candidates in this article.

Read until the end to find out more about how a warehouse skills test can help you hire a top warehouse manager and how to interview your applicants.

How do you assess a warehouse’s daily operations and inventory?

It’s critical to effectively assess your warehouse’s daily operations and inventory. Ensure everything is running smoothly by hiring a capable warehouse manager who will conduct operations assessments.

The main factors evaluated in an operations assessment are:

• The warehouse’s current systems and how efficiently they support the warehouse operations

• Customer or client service and satisfaction compared with established objectives

• How warehouse pickers use material-handling equipment and whether any changes are needed

• The inventory process, including how goods flow into and out of the warehouse and how efficiently the warehouse’s space is used

The image below lists down the responsibilities of a warehouse manager:

What hard skills should a capable warehouse manager have?

If you need to hire a warehouse manager, it’s crucial to know how to assess warehouse manager skills, such as managerial skills, logical reasoning, and the technical skills needed to understand and use software systems.

Here’s more information on these hard skills.

1. Managerial skills 

Your warehouse manager will need to supervise all tasks and activities that happen in the warehouse. Their responsibilities include evaluating team performance and expediting the shipment of goods. 

Managerial skills and the ability to think practically are vital for warehouse managers since they help them ensure the warehouse runs efficiently. When assessing warehouse manager skills, don’t forget to evaluate their managerial skills.

2. Logical reasoning and critical thinking

Efficiently storing goods requires critical thinking and logical reasoning abilities. Shipping goods and overseeing a team of warehouse pickers also require logical reasoning skills, so find out whether your warehouse managers have these skills and can use them to manage tasks efficiently.

3. Technical skills for understanding software systems

Knowing how to use software, mainly warehouse management software systems and inventory management software, is vital for warehouse managers. 

Warehouse management software systems can facilitate organization, while inventory management software automates inventory and warehouse management processes.

Ensure your applicants have the knowledge required to use these types of software to help with warehouse management.

What soft skills should skilled warehouse managers have?

You want a well-rounded new hire with exceptional soft skills. These include communication, decision-making, and attention to detail.

Here’s more information on why each of these soft skills is important.

1. Communication skills

Excellent communication skills are a must to lead a team effectively. Since warehouse managers manage pickers, they should know how to communicate effectively with their team.

Warehouse managers also have to communicate with delivery clients. Do your applicants have the communication skills needed to handle these responsibilities?

2. Decision-making skills

Your candidates should understand how to manage resources as efficiently as possible. When handling stock, they need to know how to make decisions that keep expenses low.

When you evaluate warehouse manager skills, ensure your applicants have the decision-making skills to complete complex stock-handling tasks.

3. Attention to detail

Attention to detail and the ability to accurately process goods are essential for warehouse managers. It’s critical that they can enter the correct information into warehouse management software and arrange stock efficiently.

Check that your applicants are detail oriented before hiring your next warehouse manager.

Which 3 skills are vital for warehouse workers?

The three key skills for warehouse workers are safety awareness, technology and software awareness, and personnel supervision skills.

Before we explain how to assess warehouse manager skills, here are some details on why these skills are so important.

1. Safety and quality awareness

The safety and security of employees in the warehouse should be a top priority for warehouse managers. They must carefully follow safety procedures to mitigate injuries and streamline operations in a safe environment. 

Quality awareness and management are also crucial for warehouse managers. Applicants should know what Six Sigma is and understand total quality management.

Make sure your applicants have safety awareness skills and quality management knowledge.

2. Technology and software awareness

There are many types of warehouse management software, and your applicants may not know how to use your particular application. However, they should be aware of the different available software that can facilitate warehouse management.

Quiz your candidates on their technology and software awareness to ensure that you will be able to train them to use your warehouse management software. 

3. Personnel supervision skills

Engaging and motivating staff, communicating clearly, and coaching employees are essential personnel supervision subskills for warehouse managers.

Since these subskills can help warehouse managers enhance operational management, mitigate risks in the warehouse, and take appropriate action when crises occur, make sure your applicants have the right personnel supervision skills

How to assess warehouse manager skills in two stages

Two methods you can use to evaluate a warehouse manager are assessing their skills using a skills test and getting to know them better in an interview.

Let’s first look at the steps required to use skills testing and then discuss some handy interview tips.

Assess warehouse manager skills with a skills test

The first thing you should do to assess warehouse manager skills is to use a reliable warehouse skills test.

A Warehouse Supervisor test will help you determine how effectively your applicants can supervise challenging activities in the warehouse.

Areas covered in the Warehouse Supervisor test

• Performing daily warehouse operations

• Managing warehouse inventory

• Ensuring operating procedures and maintenance

• Performing day-end activities and administrative tasks

Follow these steps to use the warehouse test efficiently.

1. Select the warehouse skills test and create an assessment that includes it

Start the process by using a comprehensive skills-testing platform and creating an assessment that includes a warehouse skills test. When you use a skills-testing platform like TestGorilla, you can include up to five tests in total, so choose wisely when you build the assessment.

2. Take advantage of customization options to show off your brand

TestGorilla provides you with a couple of handy customization options to make your brand more memorable to candidates. You can select a color theme for your assessment and add a logo to ensure your brand is not forgotten.

3. Send invitations to candidates to complete the assessment

To invite candidates to complete the assessment, you can send them a public link, invite them using the TestGorilla platform, or send them invitations through your applicant tracking system.

4. Shortlist candidates for the interview stage

All that’s left is to shortlist the candidates who will proceed to the interview stage.

With TestGorilla, candidate shortlisting is as simple as reviewing the automated results of the skills tests and making comparisons between promising candidates.

You can then remove unsuitable applicants from the process and focus on only the most skilled warehouse managers.

How to assess candidates’ warehouse manager skills in interviews: 4 useful tips

Now, all you need to do is conduct interviews with your warehouse manager candidates.

Here are four useful tips if you’re unsure how to assess warehouse manager skills during an interview.

1. Talk about your company, its values, and what it does

Your candidates want to know what makes your organization unique. Pique their interest and enhance the candidate experience by sharing information with them about your company’s values and what it does.

2. Inform interviewees about the warehouse manager role

Building on your warehouse manager job description, inform interviewees about the manager role in more detail. For example, describe how your business manages warehouse inventory and performs maintenance tasks.

3. Have a list of warehouse manager questions prepared and take notes on responses

Ensure you’ve prepared a list of warehouse manager interview questions before you start interviewing candidates. Additionally, taking notes during the interview is a useful way to compare applicants’ responses and choose the most capable warehouse manager for your open role.

4. Review all responses and extend an offer to the top candidate

Gather your notes and review all the responses you received from applicants to compare your candidates. You can then extend an offer to the top warehouse manager.

Hiring a warehouse manager is easy with TestGorilla

Although you have to write an effective warehouse manager job description and evaluate several abilities when hiring a warehouse manager, you now know everything you need to know about how to assess warehouse manager skills.

All you have to do is sign up with TestGorilla, build an assessment, and start testing your applicants’ skills when you’ve sourced them. You can complete interviews with the most qualified applicants to verify that their values align with your business.

Rely on skills testing to overcome hiring challenges. Use a Warehouse skills test and build your assessment to hire top warehouse managers for your organization.