What do employers look for when hiring managers? Do you consider yourself a good candidate?

FINDING A MANAGEMENT JOB

Management is a wide ranging and exciting area of work. One way to gain a sense of the possibilities is to study the advertisements for management job openings. Companies advertise their management openings in a variety of ways, including print advertisements in such newspapers as the Wall Street Journal (especially its Friday career section) and online ads at job sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com.

Step 1: Find a job you'd like to have. Search through the newspaper and online ads and locate several detailed job descriptions for management positions. Select the one that you find most appealing-a job that you could picture yourself interviewing for either in the near future or later in your career. Do not be too concerned about your current qualifications in making your selection, but you should see realistic prospects of meeting the qualifications over time (if a job requires an MBA, for example, you should see yourself completing this degree sometime in the future).

Step 2: Think like a hiring manager. Read the job description and imagine that you are the manager responsible for hiring someone to fill this position. A human resources specialist in your company has already screened the applicants' resume and background. Thus, you may assume that your partner has met all the basic qualifications for the job. Your job as a senior manager is to ask questions that might get beyond the resume to the person-what might you ask to learn if someone is well-suited to thrive in this management job, and in your company?

Step 3: Questions. What ideas or questions are most significant to you as you consider management job interviews?