Managers/Supervisors/VP - Interview question

tmtex

If in a interview and the question of "So what kind of manager are you ? " comes up, what do you say ?

tmtex

Nothing ?

EANx

Hands-on, hands-off, relaxed, micromanager, big-picture, detail-oriented, etc. The key is really to find out if your style fits the corporate culture. There's nothing wrong with an authoritarian, micromanagement style when everyone's on-board with that. And before you say that could never work, Bill Belichik of the NFL New England Patriots would disagree. Unless you know their culture, the best thing is to know your style and be able to provide examples of how it works for you.

Lexluethar

You say what type of manager you are. Don't lie to get the job, only to get fired bc you are the type of manager they don't want.

Trucido

I have never been a supervisor or manager, but I would imagine something along the lines of, "I manage in a way that consistently challenges my team to never cease in their development and continued personal improvement. I constantly strive to do whatever it takes to reach a goal or SLA which needs to be met. Whether that entails encouragement and guidance or breathing down my teams necks to get the job done effectively. I take responsibility for the team I manage, and I take it very seriously if a goal is not met."

Something that would show that you know nobody is perfect, but whether they need guidance or micromanaging, you're up for the task. That is... if that's how you manage of course.

Danielm7

Lexluethar wrote: »

You say what type of manager you are. Don't lie to get the job, only to get fired bc you are the type of manager they don't want.

Ding ding! No one here can tell you what kind of manager you want to be, it's up to your management style and personality, but be honest.

We recently hired a helpdesk manager for a larger company so 30+ people under him. He came off as kind of a prick during the first interview rounds (I wasn't involved but was told by a few others) but HR wanted another round with him since he had more experience on paper than the others. He tried to soften up for the next round and was hired. It's been about 6 months now, most people hate him, a bunch of people under him are all looking for new jobs and people are wondering how they can get rid of him. Had he just not tried to pretend he was something different on the 2nd round of interviews we could have avoided a lot of hassle.

sj4088

EANx wrote: »

Hands-on, hands-off, relaxed, micromanager, big-picture, detail-oriented, etc. The key is really to find out if your style fits the corporate culture. There's nothing wrong with an authoritarian, micromanagement style when everyone's on-board with that. And before you say that could never work, Bill Belichik of the NFL New England Patriots would disagree. Unless you know their culture, the best thing is to know your style and be able to provide examples of how it works for you.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. The real reason he has been successful is because he is an X and O master as opposed to being a task master. I generally agree that being an authoritarian or task master doesn't work. The problem with that approach is no one want a task master as a boss. So talented people and/or people with options won't stay in a place like that. So you would constantly being shuffling through new folks. And I think we are agree that is really bad and has a hugely negative impact on any business and especially IT because it's so technical.

Now the NFL is a little bit different where once you sign a contract you CAN'T leave unless the team decide to trade you or until your contract expire. That's not the case with us IT workers. We can walk out the door anytime we want to. We see it all the time too, where company are desperate to get somebody in there quickly because someone just put in their two week notice in the middle of a major project. I've even gotten calls from recruiters where someone just walked out with no notice and they have to get someone in there ASAP, like RIGHT NOW.

But again I don't think that's the reason Belichik is successful, it's more about him being a brilliant tactician.

Most companies in fact are doing the opposite. They realize it's a competitive environment out there. So in order to retain talent and keep employee moral high they are going the other way. I'm seeing lots of companies now offering work from home. Now this isn't to say that employees won't have to be accountable. But the sweat shop days are over, too much competition out there for that.

636-555-3226

I say I'm a leader, not a manager, then explain the difference and why they should be looking for leadership skills, not management skills. If they need management skills then they've been hiring the wrong worker bees.