Advice Needed on Management Issues (Hubby has a big job interview tomorrow)

November 2, 2005 | self

[proud American in Canada]

Hi, all,

I'm posting here because I know that this place is the one place to get good advice in a hurry.

I called on you all recently when my Chrysler Minivan wouldn't start. Long story--but once again, Freepers came through.

So now.. My husband is totally stressed. He has a MAJOR job interview tomorrow. He doesn't expect to get the job (there's already someone there and in the Cdn. government sometimes you have to re-apply for your job).

However, tomorrow is part one of the interview. There will be actors bringing him problems and he has to basically demonstrate that he would be capable of being a director of a major organization. He already manages several people, but he's stressed because if he doesn't handle it right, this bad score will be on his record for years.

He can handle the substance--that comes later--but they will be questioning him on people issues.

They sent him a "fact sheet" describing who he is, etc. Here it is:

He is the director of a museum. There is a generational gap between his employees--the older ones are archivists, etc. There are younger ones, too.

There are several key problem issues that may or may not come up tomorrow:

1. The people who don't have kids resent the "free time" that those who have children seem to have. How to resolve that problem without drastically reducing productivity (this was my idea, giving childless people the same free time, but then my husband said, "so, people without kids can just say, 'hey, I gotta go,' and no one can call them on it?"

There must be people who have dealt with this around here. It's a common problem.

2. Because it's a museum, there are volunteers. They actually need the volunteers, to get everything done, but a lot of employees feel like the volunteers are threatening their jobs. The established people are also worried about the occasional contract person who is hired.

There is a generational difference, I have a feeling (though it's not written), that the older/childless employees are the ones who are bitter.

[fanfan]

Congrats on your new job, sounds like fun.

:-)