10 crucial interview questions for ERP job candidates in 2026

1. What is your cloud experience vs. on-premises experience?

ERP was, for the longest time, strictly an on-premises tool. In recent years, all major ERP vendors have shifted their focus to cloud-based systems. Going forward, their emphasis and efforts will remain there.

A job candidate should be well versed in the cloud versions of Oracle, SAP and other major ERP offerings.

2. With what ERP systems are you most familiar?

It's valuable to learn whether a candidate has experience with Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, SAP ERP, Sage X3, or other ERP platforms and modules. Even if the candidate's experience is not an exact fit with the job description, they may explain that they were on hand for an implementation from start to finish or that they worked with key individuals across the company to identify the crucial business information from each business unit, all of which could potentially be useful experience.

The candidate should describe their experiences with each platform, including any challenges and how they overcame them. The candidate should also discuss any experience with Java, C++, PHP, Ruby or other programming languages. 

3. Tell me about a successful ERP implementation in which you participated

While the technical details differ between SAP Business One and Infor implementations, the soft skills -- for example, project management, teamwork and leadership -- are transferable. Maybe the candidate completed the implementation under budget and on time. Maybe the candidate successfully worked with different business units, despite the units' contradictory business processes. 

The candidate should also describe the formal training they've had on ERP platforms or modules. Were they online classes, in person or a combination? Did they receive certifications for their work? If they were involved with providing the training or establishing the project budget, they should go into detail about those, too.

4. What are the core components of the average ERP system?

Anyone who's asked this question is expected to know the components of an ERP system, or they wouldn't have landed an interview in the first place.

However, the candidate should be able to easily explain to nontechnical audiences how the database, workflow management, reporting tools and analytics work together. Think of the apocryphal quotation ascribed to Albert Einstein that, if you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough yourself. How did the candidate go about training those on their staff or in their department? How did they convince nontechnical people of the merits of their approach?

The candidate should be able to speak with similar authority on the different modules that the company is using, such as HR or supply chain management (SCM), and explain the differences among major platforms, such as SAP, Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Epicor.

The recruiter should also ask specific technical information about any platform with which the candidate has worked. For example, if the candidate has worked with SAP, they should be able to explain how transparent tables, pooled tables and cluster tables work. They should explain the importance of standardized core data and transaction data management when implementing an ERP system, the reason for creating separate tables, or the ins and outs of working with base tables.

5. What was your most difficult interface challenge? How did you deal with it?

Asking a candidate about a disaster at work or in their professional life is a good measure of how they handle failure, how they recover from it and what they learned from it. 

One of the hardest aspects of implementing any ERP system is negotiating the requirements of the different business and support units of a company. Each has its own, often contradictory, demands. A successful ERP candidate needs to show resourcefulness, project leadership and great communication skills. Even if the candidate will not be leading the ERP implementation, asking them how they've worked with those who have led such projects could be helpful.

Regardless of the candidate's role in past projects, they should be able to clearly communicate what worked and what didn't. If they faced challenges and objections from peers or managers, they should explain how they cleared those hurdles. If they learned any hard lessons, they should illustrate what they were and how they would do things differently given a second run. 

The candidate should explain how the previous ERP implementation benefited the company. For example, they may describe the time savings the company experienced by having sales orders reproduced in the financial system without rekeying or the reduction in erroneous product orders.

6. How did one of your ERP projects integrate with other software platforms?

Many enterprises are moving away from consolidated ERP systems to collections of targeted cloud modules that offer ERP functions. This trend is partly driven by non-IT departmental buyers subscribing to narrowly defined SaaS offerings before consulting with IT. Business managers later realize that these narrow applications also need data from other sources or need to send data to other systems. As a result, IT is left trying to integrate or connect these applications or starting over from scratch.

Did the candidate lead an ERP integration strategy or work with a team that did? What approach did they take? How did they manage APIs? Did they use vendors' integration tools, or did they seek out third-party PaaS options? Did they investigate using integration PaaS offerings, such as Dell Boomi or MuleSoft Anypoint? Are they experienced in integrating on-premises applications with cloud-based platforms?

They should also explain what plan was in place to maintain these integrations. This ongoing maintenance is often overlooked, which can create massive headaches in data sets when cloud computing vendors update their offerings.

7. How will technological advancements affect ERP?

Data that robotics, IoT and other methods are funneling into ERP systems requires new analytics tools. If the interviewer hasn't already asked about data mining specifically, they should potentially ask about it in this part of the interview. ERP candidates should be familiar with the trends in AI, machine learning (ML) and other transformative technologies that use big data structures. 

The interviewer should note whether the candidate mentions how such technological advancements can benefit the company and its ERP system, in particular the blockchain, which is increasingly used for secure business transactions.

8. How well versed are you on AI and ML?

AI and machine learning have become key components of ERP systems. AI and ML are used for processes like predictive analytics, demand forecasting and routine task automation. This integration helps improve accuracy and enables organizations to make data-driven decisions more effectively.

Because of this, the interviewer should evaluate whether the job candidate has experience with AI and ML tools.

9. How familiar are you with mobile and IoT ERP?

The modern workforce is increasingly mobile. ERP vendors are responding with emphasis on mobile-first ERP platforms, offering users the ability to access critical business data and perform tasks from their smartphones and tablets.

If the interviewer's company uses mobile ERP and IoT or plans to, they should ask the job candidate about their experience with the technology.

10. What certifications do you have?

Resume padding is one thing, but you can't fake a certification. ERP certification formally recognizes an individual's expertise and knowledge and is, therefore, of great importance to employers. Because certification is done on a per-vendor basis, the already-established vendor is verifying the candidate's skills in its software.

In addition, certification ensures that ERP professionals are staying current with industry standards and best practices, since certifications require periodic renewal.

Editor’s note: This article was updated in February 2026 to improve the reader experience.

Andy Patrizio is a technology journalist with almost 30 years' experience covering Silicon Valley who has worked for a variety of publications -- on staff or as a freelancer -- including Network World, InfoWorld, Business Insider, Ars Technica and InformationWeek. He is currently based in southern California.

Kevin Ferguson has written about technology for many years and for many publications. He is a regular contributor to TechTarget. He has also produced radio and film for NPR and PBS. Ferguson holds a B.A. in journalism from Rutgers University and an M.P.A. from Harvard University.