Politics: Offered Supervisor Position, should I take it?

[movingamountain]

Hi there,

this is not a PLC question strictly, more just wanted to weigh in on the forum's thoughts about this specific situation.

Recently, my company was interviewing for supervisors in my department. I applied and made it through all the rounds of interviews, but ultimately was not given the role of supervisor. Two supervisors were selected and I was not one of them.

Also recently, our company has been going through a bunch of changes and we have had lots of staffing changes. Supervisors and managers have left, and departments are scrambling to backfill the leadership positions as senior workers have left the company.

I was offered a position as a supervisor this week (about two months after the other two supervisors were selected) and I am having mixed thoughts about it.

On the plus side, it would come with a pay increase and maybe some more respect I guess around the office. Also might look nice on the old resume.

On the minus side, it's more work, more stress, and lately our company feels like a sinking ship. Not sure I want to jump in at that time since I don't see much of a future with this company to be honest.

Additionally, I feel like I wasn't selected as one of their supervisor picks, even though I think highly of myself and think I was the best candidate for the roll at the time. I guess I feel a bit resentful that I wasn't selected in the honest and open process, and am only being given sloppy seconds because other supervisors are leaving. That alone tells me this isn't the next step for me in my career.

I guess I'm not sure where to go from here, but I don't think the supervisory roll is it. Any and all thoughts are welcome, thanks.

 

[Steve Bailey]

It sounds to me like you should be shopping your resume around to some other employers. If you can't get the bad taste of being rejected for the previous chance at promotion out of your mouth, you're unlikely to prosper where you are.

 

[movingamountain]

Thanks Steve.

That is about where I am at... certainly not trying to sound entitled or be a baby about this. In the end, you either step up and do something or you accept your fate. I think this company was a good fit but it just feels like it is done at this point and maybe time to be moseying on.

Thanks for your input and have a great weekend.

 

[5618]

Some thoughts that may or may not apply:

It sounds like you don't see your extended future there. Maybe another year or few, but eventually you want to move to a better place. What do you want to be doing in five or ten years? If it's leadership, then the role might be worthwhile. If's it's hands-on doing and creating, you might stay in your role or move up in something non-management.

The term "manager" turns me off a bit. It sounds a bit like being responsible for trying to get the unmotivated to produce and making sure the i's and t's are all good in lots of documentation.

If you're interested in leadership, I suggest check out a few good leadership podcasts to hear about what good leadership can be. If you think you would like that and can make a difference where you are, the manager role might be for you, except don't be just a manager, be a leader. Take your leadership skills elsewhere when the time comes.

If you will listen to podcasts, I recommend Craig Groeschel Leadership podcast. I think he's also on YouTube. Dave Ramsey EntreLeadership Podcast has some excellent topics and guests also.

 

[James Mcquade]

if it were me and things are not looking to good, i would skip the position.
send out your resume or stick it out. i would probably stick it out as long as possible, things may turn around. to me, it wouldn't look good of you took the supervisor position and then the place closed due to bad management. that would put you in that management boat.
just my opinion.
james

 

[parky]

It is a dificult one to answer or give advice on, one train of thought is although as a more senior position on your CV is helpful, but as James said, could be seen as you were part of the management that may have caused the company to fail, although it is probably worth taking the risk, it is mainly assumed that the high level management are the ones responsible or current economic problems.
Once you have held that position & assume the company does survive it gives you a bit more of a better chance to land a job at that level as experience is often sought.
Staying as you are will depend on how you feel about taking on more responsibility, even the benefits like pay etc. may be better.
It will all depend on a number of factors:
Often people are made managers not just because of their management skills but although comes with higher base pay usually means if on the tools you get overtime then this often does not apply being in management so in reality hours worked is often higher but because of a fixed pay rate the actual hourly rate is based on hours worked is less than on the tools.
(Seen this where the position means nothing just do not pay the overtime)
This happened to me some years ago, was made a manager they did not tell me until I presented an overtime sheet, then they told me, funny really, I was made a manager of myself as there was nobody under me or at my level. So I just did not work above my allocated hours, did manage to get a callout rate re-instated when they realised that it would cause them major downtime during my time off.

 

[Corsair]

Research the Peter Principle. Great book.

 

[drbitboy]

Research the Peter Principle. Great book.

Oof.

 

[I_Automation]

Related, but in another field.


I knew a guy that was a great salesman of outdoor power equipment [lawnmowers, snow blowers, garden tractors, tillers, etc.]


He was so good the dealership he worked at made him the sales manager.



Being a supervisor in a department is very different from working in it.


They wouldn't let him go back to just sales, so he quit and hired in another place as just sales


I have done industrial maintenance for many yeas and was a maintenance supervisor in a stamping plant for 5 years. Although I was good at it, I liked working on the machines more.

 

[movingamountain]

Thanks everybody for the replies. Great information, even a little bit of pushback in the replies about the book that was recommended (The Peter Principal).

When I search my gut on this, I think it will be the right move to pass on this position and take some time to re-evaluate my medium and long term goals. I think I would make a good supervisor, but my company specifically is going through an extremely turbulent time, and there are no guarantees that the extra work or effort I put into it would be rewarded or even appreciated. In my current role, I still help train new programmers and am considered a strong PLC programming resource, so I can still help out my company in those ways.

I need to do some thinking about where I would like to be in 5 or 10 years as 5618 said. Ultimately I would like to own a business, providing a product or service (maybe not even PLC related), and I think that having less engagement with my company (being an engineer vs. a supervisor) would be beneficial for that. I am going to come up with a 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year plan for the future and do the best I can to hit those goals as much as is possible. Maybe it's a pipe dream in the end but we all have to make our choices, and the best I can do is the best I can do.

Thank you all again for your replies, I'll check out the Peter Principal book that was mentioned and hope y'all have a good weekend.

 

[bigbuckaroo]

I think of this from a different perspective. Given that you know some struggles the company is having, it could be a unique situation where you can step in and steer the ship in a more positive direction. Just another viewpoint to consider.

 

[cardosocea]

Also recently, our company has been going through a bunch of changes and we have had lots of staffing changes. Supervisors and managers have left, and departments are scrambling to backfill the leadership positions as senior workers have left the company.

I was offered a position as a supervisor this week (about two months after the other two supervisors were selected) and I am having mixed thoughts about it.

Additionally, I feel like I wasn't selected as one of their supervisor picks, even though I think highly of myself and think I was the best candidate for the roll at the time. I guess I feel a bit resentful that I wasn't selected in the honest and open process, and am only being given sloppy seconds because other supervisors are leaving. That alone tells me this isn't the next step for me in my career.

This is likely obvious but it doesn't hurt to ask. Did the people making the decision for supervisor also left with the supervisors themselves?
If they all left together, wouldn't that be a clean slate and you're hurt against someone that is no longer in the company?

On the other hand, why did those supervisors left? Because you'd have to deal with it as well and it's better to know beforehand.

I do understand the resentment bit and have had it with other places and even in the company I'm at in two separate times. The way around it, for me at least, was to have a chat with the manager and see that the people making decisions then were long gone and as such I shouldn't judge the current people on others misgivings.

On the other hand, small stuff like job title matters an awful lot and if management is where you want to be next, you could take the role but certain that it's simply a step to move on to something else elsewhere.

 

[parky]

Yes there are many factors to consider, firstly, will becomming a manager/supervisor take you away from the buzz you probably get on rhe tools, does the extra money/benefits make up for this, will the position leave you satisfied at work, can you take the extra pressure that usually comes with the job, perhaps climbing the ladder will create opertunities to move on while having opertunities to keep climbing the ladder, but most of all will the extra benefits make you happy in your role considering things like status, living standards job satisfaction etc.