Someone recently asked me what questions I recommend asking in interviews for candidates for a Data Governance Manager role. It's been a couple of years since I helped a client with the recruitment process. I remembered a couple of questions that worked well but thought that since the data community are so supportive that this would be a great topic to collaborate on. I asked on LinkedIn for people to share their favourite/recommended questions with a plan to create a great resource for both those recruiting and those preparing for Data Governance job interviews and this blog is the result.

Please feel free to use and share this resource:

‘Data Governance and you’ questions

How did you come to be in the Data Governance arena?
Give me your Data Governance elevator pitch.
How do you measure the success of Data Governance initiatives?
Give me an example of how you went about implementing governance before and what you would do differently this time.
How you get buy in for the Data Governance programs and how to onboard multiple streams for the data governance initiative

Skills and attributes questions:

Talk to me about a couple of examples from your professional life where your 'desert crossing stamina' helped you to drive an initiative again and again to success despite being knocked down every other step
Give one example of how you overcame the obstacle of a fellow employee who was not interested in what you were trying to say ... even if you didn't win them over, what approaches did you try …
Are you an emotional or a logical person? Then ask them to explain their answer.

‘Data Governance and the company’ questions

What are the components / related pillars of Data Governance? Which would be most appropriate for this organisation and why?
How would you use Data Governance to balance the business need to leverage our data and our compulsion to operate within the confines of regulatory requirements?
What is your 30/60/90 plan for this position / company?
What could Data Governance achieve in this company?

Data Governance Knowledge Questions

What is Data Governance? Explain it to me as if I had never heard of it before.
Why is Data Governance important? /
What is the difference between Data management and Data Governance?
What does it look like when Data Governance is well executed?
Who is responsible for Data Governance? Do you perceive Data Governance to be an IT driven process or a business driven process and why? What are the pros and cons of both?
How is data localisation going to affect the future of Data Governance?
Explain a sample Data Governance road map for an organisation.

I hope you have found this useful. Good luck with your recruiting or job hunting and if you have any questions you would like added to this list please add them to the comments below!