Division Director 

How did you get your current job?
referral

What was the application process?
Phone screen, resume, in person interviews, panel interview and finally a working (day in the life) interview

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
I did have to interview. I had a conversation with my current supervisor over the phone after being referred by a personal friend. That conversation was a phone screen for each of us. It was followed by a series of in person interviews (3) and was completed with a working interview where I got to spend a day with my would be team watching them work and evaluating the fit.

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
I was asked questions about my management experience. The achievement I’m most proud of in my career. To provide a “roadblock”/challenge and explain. What values I hold most critical. What my ideal work environment is.

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes, my job was clearly defined to me from the interview process on. I have been provided with every resource necessary to ensure my success.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
Yes. We have a new hire 30 day training plan that provides the history of the company, corporate philosophy and core job requirements. After the initial training we have an ongoing training program. It has online elements, multimedia elements and live team training.

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes and no. School prepared me by giving me the core skills necessary to be successful: confidence, organization, communication and basic business etiquette. However, the real world is much more gray then an mba program case study or mangement theory paper would ever lead you to believe. The world moves at a much faster pace then an acadmic environment and in the real world you don’t get penalized a grade point for being late you lose your company money and you risk losing your job.

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
My job requires a graduate degree. I would suggest to anyone interested in holding my position that they start by focusing on education. Once a degree is achieved it is important to gain work experience as a consultant. It is difficult to be a successful manager without understanding the day to day life of the people you are managing.

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Patience, stellar communication, organization and time management skills are critical for my position. If someone doesn’t possess those attributes other skills are irrelevant. Beyond those core skills an indivdual who wants my job needs to have strong: project and people management, general math, social networking, industry technical knowledge and ability to learn on the fly. My job requires adaptabilty and life long learning skills too.

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Yes, my job requires a graduate degree.

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
I would tell them to work on managing the high highs and the low lows. My job is very demanding and the work flow can be very cyclical. One minute your team can be experiencing the success of a project finished early and the very next minute you can be fielding a call from a justifiably frustrated customer who is unhappy with the service of your team. Typically the people who land in my job are used to a relatively high level of success. Learning to “check your ego” and recognise that managing some team failures is just a part of the job is critical to your success.