EM Loop: The Management Interview

The management interview is the core of the EM loop. This is not to say that other interviews aren’t important. However, this one determines whether or not a company will consider you for a management position and what level of compensation they will offer. Management interviews span multiple areas of an engineering manager’s job responsibilities.

• People management: This is the process of hiring, leading, and developing team members to support the organization’s overall mission.
• Project management: This is the application of processes, methods, skills, knowledge, and experience to achieve specific project objectives within certain parameters.
• Cross-functional management (CFM): This is the management of business processes that span traditional functional boundaries. It’s concerned with coordinating and synchronizing the activities of various units in order to achieve superordinate cross-functional goals and policy deployment.
• Managing up (senior management): This is the highest level of management in an organization. Senior management is in charge of the day-to-day operations of that organization.