Interviewing for manager position?

["Geoff Hart" <geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca>]

Stepheni Norton is <<...interviewing this evening for a new 
document manager position... what question do you ask regarding 
the position - not benifet related.>>

Find out the politics of the situation, and how they'll affect your job. 
What is the formal relationship between the manager and the rest 
of management? Who do you report to? Who will you be 
supervising? Once you've got that down, ask about the unofficial 
relationships and the problems you're being brought in to solve. The 
combination of these questions tells you what kind of situation 
you'll find yourself in, what support you can expect, and what 
problems you'll have to solve.

Ask them what they consider to be the worst part of the job, and if 
they don't have specific answers, prompt them: paperwork? 
problem employees? unreasonable deadlines? inadequate 
resources? bad relationships with the SMEs? If the employer is 
reticent about answering, this may mean that they're hiding 
something, or that there are serious problems to be solved. That 
doesn't mean you shouldn't take the job, but at least you won't be 
blindsided by the challenges you face. If you're feeling really bold, 
ask them whether you can talk to the employees you'll be 
supervising, off the record. That's difficult to do well, and they may 
not let you do it at all, but I found out very interesting things the 
one time I was allowed to do this.

Best of luck!

--Geoff Hart @8^{)}  geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca  (Pointe-Claire, Quebec)
"If you can't explain it to an 8-year-old, you don't understand it"--Albert Einstein