Manager Interview Paper

I began my selection of who to interview by brainstorming what managers I knew from previous experiences, and what industries I would be interested to learn more about a manager’s role in. As I narrowed my selection, I focused more on experience and decided to interview one of the managers of the Ace Hardware store that I had previously worked at. Matthew, or Matt, has been with the store for 13 years and has been a manager for 9 years. He was a good candidate because I got to know Matt while working under him, and the interview could be more personal because of this. I was able to travel back to my hometown during a weekend early this fall, and meet Matt at the hardware store on a Saturday that he was working. He told me to just drop by

I asked him questions about becoming a manager, and how his job has changed since then. I also asked him questions about his management style, situations he has encountered as a manager, and how he handles his management responsibilities. His response to the questions about becoming a manager were that he was moved to that position when the company came in need of a replacement manager, and that his job changed from only dealing with customers to dealing with customers, employees, owners, and inventory. His responsibility within the company grew exponentially, and he found himself in a position where he had an obligation to represent the company and its values at all times. Matt told me that he deals with difficult situations as a manager by doing whatever he can to appease the customer at the time. He explained that it is important not to show frustration to customers or even employees, and that (at times) it is best to vent some of that frustration when neither are

He told me that it does no good to become angry with employees, but rather approach the situation from an angle of instruction and coaching. He admitted he even uses sarcasm at times to get his point across without becoming angry or instructing employees in front of customers. Because of this direct contact with employees and customers each day, Matt feels that human skills are the most important in his role, followed closely by technical skills. As a manager who is always on the floor, he must know how to relate to employees and customers simultaneously. He is the person employees come to for assistance with doing their job, so he must have the technical skills to do every task in the store. He is also given the task of training new employees, and he does this thorough shadowing. His competency is critical in this role as well because he has found that new employees learn the fastest through watching how he does his