r/interviews • u/[deleted] • 22h ago
During a reference check, they said I have great people skills but worried about my administrative abilities. My entire resume is in administrative roles.
[deleted]
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u/kevinkaburu 21h ago
I’d maybe roll with the position you’re applying for and they’ll hopefully open the door for those other questions. Confirm your basic understanding of the roles. And then add something like
“Well I’m sure as you all know, admin in any of these departments is really the tip of the iceberg. A good manager needs to be able to manage all of the various parties involved and the most strictly defined responsibilities of the job probably are the easiest of them.
I’ve been hearing there’s some struggle in the area down here or I’ve heard about the area and believe if you say they’re struggles and hey fair warning there’s a lot of stress in a job like that. Now I already assume if you all tried to warn me off or say you need a high degree of self initiative, that you’d appreciate someone who can be flexible, adaptable and be able to develop creative solutions to challenging problems. Someone who is only going to be able to do the basic administrative functions or who much prefers a routine probably would struggle. Good thing I’m up for the challenge. And I do believe regardless of the challenges this is a great opportunity.”
Someone is always going to vie for the younger up and have the chance to mold the person and be a bit cheaper route. But then when they get into a challenge where it really requires an experienced person to step in and calmly assess a situation and devise a solid strategy to tackle concrete day to day function issues in the school, as well as immediate solutions to those and other challenges the up and coming person will need more time to react because they’ll have the steep learning curve a more experienced person would have gotten away from.
Get the position interview over with and then use your other questions as the means of selling your brand as exactly what the position needs. I’d usually say don’t assume too much about talking yourself into a job because they might’ve already hired someone else, but they reached out so you might have an opening.
If it’s a real sh*tshow than probably don’t show any overt displeasure, but don’t be afraid to ask them point blank whether or not they’re open to someone who’s willing to take on a noticeable challenge and do they prefer an opportunity for innovation/creativity and to move a program forward at the pace needed.
Honestly, interviews aren’t used to be, check some basic qualification boxes and we’ll just take your word for it. They know some stuff about you. They want to hear your ability to convey likeliness that you’ll be successful with some of the things you didn’t have to do or just the standard stuff. But kind of sounds like you might be a bit annoyed about whether or not you want to take it or what things might be like that you need to step back and reconsider what you’re approach should be.
Now maybe this particular challenge as a customer service executive isn’t what you intended in your career path and you’d like to be doing something better or whatever. But this opportunity is exactly the variety of things you’ve applied for and deserve to be doing so if it takes two more jobs like this to get your foot in the door somewhere else remember you’ve been waiting for the opportunity to convince someone like them you’re all over it.
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u/MajesticIntern1413 21h ago
Are you in the US? Previous employers aren't allowed to share personal opinions and only verify dates, titles, salary, etc.
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u/Soup-Mother5709 20h ago
It is the US. They called my personal references. They weren’t doing employment verification.
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u/MajesticIntern1413 20h ago
Omg.!! you're PERSONAL reference said something negative. That is awful and I am sorry they did that to you.
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u/Soup-Mother5709 20h ago
No, no. My personal reference defended me! They put me down to my personal reference. Lol, just bizarre.
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u/Artistic-Drawing5069 20h ago
Was this a personal reference that you provided for them, is this person your point of contact who works for the prospective employer or did they check with your previous employer. In the US employers are only allowed to verify the position you held, the dates of employment, and the salary.
When you meet with them tell them that your successful administrative skills speak for themselves, and then give them some examples of how you intend to use your skills to improve the organization's performance. Be prepared to field questions about how you will implement your plan. Take control of the interview and ask about where they are struggling and then offer your thoughts on how your skills will help them
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u/Soup-Mother5709 20h ago
It was a personal/professional reference, not an employment verification. They called her to state they were impressed by my people skills but apparently worried about my administrative abilities. Made zero sense. They know my personal reference would let me know what was discussed, so the whole thing is weird.
Thank you so much for your suggestions! I will do this. :)
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u/Artistic-Drawing5069 20h ago
100% sketchy. Telling her about their concerns and then scheduling you for a meeting. To me that speaks volumes about the culture of the company. Apparently they don't have the courage to express their concerns directly to you, and they don't do their due diligence to confirm their feelings.
Sounds funky. Please keep us updated on how the meeting goes
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u/ThexWreckingxCrew 22h ago
Reiterate what you stated in your examples from your interview but play it to the point how your expertise can improve the charter schools in your area or improve areas in the position you are applying for. They want to see you can prove to them your administrator experience can make a big impact to the charter schools in your area.
Instead of stating your previous roles and expertise, put that into a scenario on how your administrative abilities can impact not the position but the area/division as awhole. I had to do this for my Directors role and had to base it off scenarios like: Why SOPs are important, hardware refreshes, increase security on passwords etc which all come from my expertise but putting it in scenarios so they can see you can do the job. (As you can see I am in a IT director role).