Experienced (Non-Manager) - Have you seen those words in job descriptions?
What does that mean? It means that a specific company wants to hire someone who does not have any experience as a manager of any type or kind. I was discussing this with a friend who works as a recruiter and he and I realized something... We know that being a manager requires you to have a higher level of concern for the job and responsibilities. Being a manager means working 60 to 80 hours a week to make sure the job gets done. If you are or once were a business owner then you know what I mean. If you are successful in sales, marketing, engineering, customer service, or virtually any job, at any level, (manager or not) you know that going the extra mile is all the difference in the world between success and failure.
Being a manager means being responsible for the job or tasks, all of them, whatever they are, however closely they align to your department. Making the customer happy is important. Being profitable is important. Meeting goals and project tasks is important. Teaching, mentoring subordinates is important.
So why would a company ever NOT want to hire people who were once a manager? Are they afraid you will be all of the above? I doubt the company at large is that way.
Is the boss afraid you will take his job? If he is, he's worrying about the wrong things.
I just don't see the logic in passing over an applicant who can do the work and once managed or supervised people who do the work. A former manager knows how hard bosses work and what they have to do to be successful. This gives the former manager applicant a leg-up in knowing what the boss wants, needs, and expects. This gives the applicant the knowledge to do those things without having to be asked to do them... and do them first.
Wouldn't it be great for your career if you had the skills and knowledge to correctly anticipate what the boss is asking for and then be able to give them results that are one or two levels higher than they expect? Who is more likely to have that skill? Experienced (Manager), or Experienced (Non-Manager).
I'll close this long post with an example for the "Devil Wears Prada".
When told to get a proof unreleased copies of a Harry Potter book, the protangonist went the extra mile...
The boss chastized her for only one book... that being delivered to her desk and not to the train station where her two daughters were leaving for a trip. "How am I supposed to get this to my daughters who are already on the train?"
Our hero's response was something like, "I got the copies from the publisher and I had them printed and hardbound, so they look like the real books, I met your daughters in person at the station and they are reading them right now on the train. That's a third copy. I thought you might want a copy for yourself."
Go the extra mile... Hire the guy who used to be a manager...
Cheers!
Richard
