I opted to drive back and forth instead of flying. We don't have the discretional income at the moment for me to rent a car to drive around the city. I could have stayed with friends, but I really wanted to visit with my grandmother since Tuesday was her birthday.
I feel the interview went well. There are several things about it which bring me to that conclusion. First, the person whom I thought would play a large role in the interview itself, perhaps providing more challenging questions than the other two actually was relatively quiet. At one point my boss asked him if he had anything for me and he said he had nothing. I asked if there were any type of HR related questions for me at all. His response was "no, you've already answered everything I had, which is good." To repeat his comment, that's good.
I had a lot of questions and requests for opinions thrown at me over the course of the 1.5 hour interview. I not only had an answer for every question, but based on the comments made about the store/cluster in general through the course of the interview; my answers were what needed to be said. For example, it was said later in the interview that what the stores need is a manager who will treat them like human beings as opposed to over tasked drones. One of the questions that was asked early on was "What would you say is your greatest skill as a manager?" My response was: "I've had a lot of success on paper at my store. I'm soaring above plan and profit expectation and have great customer service scores. A year ago, I would have said my ability to manage those things is my greatest attribute. But, I've learned something about myself and management in general. My greatest and most valuable skill which I bring to the table is the ability to infuse a positive attitude into the work atmosphere. I do that by humanizing my employees. I treat them as people and am genuinely interested in them, their lives and who they are both in and outside the company. They understand that I'm actually interested in them as people and give me more respect for it than they would if I were just some guy barking orders. By making them feel like they have ownership in the performance of the store and company and that THEY are respected attitudes change." When I was given a turn to ask questions later on, one of mine was what the store needs most. My boss' response actually mirrored what I bring to the table to the point that he reused some of the phrases I uttered.
I am now at the portion of the interview process I dread the most: waiting. Two people were interviewed on Friday which leaves three more candidates. My boss will be in my center with HIS boss on Tuesday and in
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