From "Senior Analyst" To "Manager"

egrizzly

Hi all,

Question to those of you that recently went to management within the past 5 years - What's the best step-by-step way to merge from the Senior Analyst position to Manager?  I ask as I have completed management-related projects in my current position of Senior Analyst, yet when I apply to Manager (Level 1) position they keep telling me "you need management experience"

UnixGuy

yeah catch 22, you need management experience to get to management, can't get to management without it

the same challenge we faced entering the market

Honestly, network, establish relationships with your current employer and make it known that you're interested in team lead / management roles. It is challenging and it is not for everyone but it happens. We all once didnt have management experience

things like CISM/CISPP/ etc do tick a box and can help.

there are so many paths too, do you want to be a technical manager? consulting manager? risk manager, etc etc...so many pathways to be honest

JDMurray

UnixGuy said:

yeah catch 22, you need management experience to get to management, can't get to management without it

Well, there are exceptions--such as myself. I became a manager because of a reorg that did away with my role at my salary level. I was offered a management position or go find a role (or job) somewhere else.

As far as management experience, you can get that without being a manager. Find one or more managers who are overloaded with the mundane work that managers do and they'll be happy to off-load their tedious burden on to you. (This is called delegation.) You might get some training in the process--or not--but you will get some management responsibilities that you can put on your resume and talk about in interviews.

Such glorious management responsibilities might include: reviewing the resumes of prospective job candidates, auditing/approving documentation, wrangling the team's work schedule(s), collecting metrics, making slides to presentations to executives, collecting information necessary to respond to the emails of the same executives, finding new and interesting pivots in budget spreadsheets, attending meetings to take notes as proxy for your manager, etc. All the administrative busy-work without an increase in salary, compensation, or the title Assistant Manager. Glorious!

egrizzly

This is helpful. I appreciate the nuggets @JDMurray