Hi all. I hope job hunting is going well, though I know from experience what a heartbreaking process it is. I know that many of us become tongue tied at the end of the interview and we are asked if we have any questions. Well my recent experience has given me a good one.

Ask how long has your potential new manager been a manager him/her self. It may not be a deal breaker on taking the job but it will be good to go in with your eyes open.

A year ago, I took the position I have now. I was excited to be getting back to production scheduling. Little did I know that my "manager " had no management experience. He was promoted off the floor. Now, I have seen people do well when this happens but I've also seen people flop. Right now, I'm dealing with a big fat flop of a manager. He won't let me take over scheduling, I've been saddled with so many administrative duties that I'm basically an Accounts Receivable/ Payable clerk. He was always going behind me and changing my schedules and he was making me feel like i wasn't doing it right (but he never , as my manager, told me whatI was doing wrong). He went out of town for two weeks and the floor supervisors were telling me i was doing a great job; the General Manager even commented that our production numbers were way up. When my "manager " returned, of course he would have done it all differently. I realized that scheduling was his comfort zone, and he was not comfortable being plant manager. He was recently demoted and a man was hired from outside to be the manager he couldn't. This makes us one person heavy in our department and so now I'm dealing with a lot of backstabbing from ex-manager because he's trying to hold on to his job. I don't know how things are going to end up for me but all I can do is keep doing the job the best I can. I did have a talk with the new manager so hopefully he will see through all of the b.s.

Anyway, just thought I'd share my revelation with you.