Opening Questions for the Registrar Representative
- What accreditations do you have?
- In which countries are you licensed?
- Do you use the same lead auditor/auditors each time?
- Where would the auditors of this project come from?
- How many auditors would you use on this project?
- Can we meet the auditors who would work on this project?
- If we have questions and call in, can we talk to our auditor or do we talk to a different representative?
- What relevant industry experience do you have?
- How many and which similar companies have you registered?
- How many auditors do you have in our SIC code?
- Do you offer virtual or remote audits?
Technical Questions for the Registrar Representative
- How do you interpret the standard? Do we have access to your interpretation?
- How do you handle pre-assessment audits? Do you recommend them? Are they mandatory?
- Do you have a checklist we can use to assess our own system?
- What method do you use to do a full system audit?
- What is the frequency of surveillance audits?
- What is covered at each surveillance?
- Is there advance notice of surveillance?
- Do you do a full system audit every three years?
- How do you determine how much time to spend on a full system/surveillance audit?
- Describe how you determine major and minor nonconformances.
- In what area of the standard do you find the most nonconformances?
- How do you handle a major nonconformance? How long do we have to respond?
- Will you return to audit that section? If so, will you look at any other areas?
- What experience do each of the auditors who are assigned to us have?
- What method do you follow when there is a need to change auditors?
- How do we contact the auditors?
- Review bios of lead and other auditors, i.e. education, experience, companies audited, references.
Questions for the Auditor
Approachability
- How do you make yourself available to people in the plant who have questions during the audit?
- What do you do when someone is too nervous to answer your questions?
- How do you set boundaries, so everyone’s time is used effectively?
Composure
- Describe a situation where you had to convey a point to a hostile or unreceptive audience.
- How do you make difficult decisions?
- How do you handle the unexpected?
Conflict Management
- Describe a conflict you handled well, and one you didn’t handle well.
- Describe a time when you had to deliver bad news, and the receiver didn’t take it well.
Ethics and Values
- Have you ever had to represent a position you didn’t completely agree with?
- Have you ever had to give feedback that was more negative than the requester was expecting?
- What did you do?
- How do you handle confidential information a requester knows you have, but you can’t or won’t disclose?
Organizing
- Have you worked with union and non-union facilities?
- What are the differences?
- How many major projects have you managed at the same time?
- How have you managed projects with team members from other offices/locations/practices?
- How do you keep organized during an assessment/audit?
Written Communications
- Please provide written examples of observations and non-conformances.
Download the Registrar Questionnaire
