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Interview Advice Please

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johnnyx9
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Interview Advice Please [#permalink] New post   11 Feb 2007, 20:14
I have never had any direct reports at work. If for some reason in an interview this comes up, I can bring up examples of committees I have led and some other leadership examples, but what I'm wondering is this:

In the organizations that I have worked for, the heirarchies have been structured such that people are not typically promoted to managerial positions until they are around 30 years old. It's a niche sort of industry where I work, and experience is highly valued. I know this is different from a lot of industries where managerial positions are easier to come by.

Should I bring this up at all? On one hand I think it sounds really bad, like I'm making a stupid excuse for not having direct reports. On the other hand, a lot of people seem to have no idea that every single organization is not structured like consulting, banking, and corporate finance outfits, so they might be inclined to think, "Hm, this guy is 28 and he doesn't have any direct reports?"
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venky1979
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Re: Interview Advice Please [#permalink] New post   12 Feb 2007, 02:04
johnnyx9 wrote:
I have never had any direct reports at work. If for some reason in an interview this comes up, I can bring up examples of committees I have led and some other leadership examples, but what I'm wondering is this:

In the organizations that I have worked for, the heirarchies have been structured such that people are not typically promoted to managerial positions until they are around 30 years old. It's a niche sort of industry where I work, and experience is highly valued. I know this is different from a lot of industries where managerial positions are easier to come by.

Should I bring this up at all? On one hand I think it sounds really bad, like I'm making a stupid excuse for not having direct reports. On the other hand, a lot of people seem to have no idea that every single organization is not structured like consulting, banking, and corporate finance outfits, so they might be inclined to think, "Hm, this guy is 28 and he doesn't have any direct reports?"


There are quite a few Industries that way
Take my example I am providing consultancy to a research tem at the client site. When I was in India I had a team but now I am all alone but that doesnt mean that I am demoted. Its jsut that my current responsibility doesnt require that and thats fine.

Also at my clients company people work at the basic level for 12-15 years before getting the designation of say a reasearch team lead.

Also if you look at large product developement companies typically people work as a developer for say 5 years, then as senior developer for another 5 and then move on to roles like produt champion before they even lead teams.

Which is fine.

If its the norm in ur industry then the interviewer would understand.


focus on as u said ur community leadership, extraccurricular leadership and infrmal leadership where you played (i am sure you must have) the lead roles
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rhyme
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Re: Interview Advice Please [#permalink] New post   12 Feb 2007, 04:30
johnnyx9 wrote:
I have never had any direct reports at work. If for some reason in an interview this comes up, I can bring up examples of committees I have led and some other leadership examples, but what I'm wondering is this:

In the organizations that I have worked for, the heirarchies have been structured such that people are not typically promoted to managerial positions until they are around 30 years old. It's a niche sort of industry where I work, and experience is highly valued. I know this is different from a lot of industries where managerial positions are easier to come by.

Should I bring this up at all? On one hand I think it sounds really bad, like I'm making a stupid excuse for not having direct reports. On the other hand, a lot of people seem to have no idea that every single organization is not structured like consulting, banking, and corporate finance outfits, so they might be inclined to think, "Hm, this guy is 28 and he doesn't have any direct reports?"


It wont come up.

If it does, it'll come up in the form of "tell me about a time you lead a team or worked on a team", not in the form of "Why dont you have any direct reports?"
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johnnyx9
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[#permalink] New post   12 Feb 2007, 06:26
Okay thanks for the input.

The person who is helping me w/ mock interviews asked me the other day while I was practicing, "So I notice you don't have any management experience, is this because you're more interested in an analytical track?" But I can imagine that would be an unusual question in an actual interview.
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venky1979
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[#permalink] New post   12 Feb 2007, 06:55
johnnyx9 wrote:
Okay thanks for the input.

The person who is helping me w/ mock interviews asked me the other day while I was practicing, "So I notice you don't have any management experience, is this because you're more interested in an analytical track?" But I can imagine that would be an unusual question in an actual interview.


This could actually be a valid question in the interview especially if ur resume read more like an engineer's resume rather than the one for B-school

Executed 10 projects with effort variance = balh blah productvity = more blah.
Won the most valueable tehnology contributor award. C++ tech architect. :)

The interviewer might tend to think u are a nerd/geek who cant work in teams.

This was the impression one of my friend had on seeing my resume while practicing a mock interview. it all depends on how the interviewer takes it
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aaudetat
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[#permalink] New post   12 Feb 2007, 07:55
Johnny -

This is totally not a big deal, as long as you have an alternate leadership example. I have read in several places on various school's websites that they don't expect many applicants to have direct reports. It all depends on your job.
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