Stand and deliver for ‘the’ interview question
The interview I endured as a 25-year-old assistant trying to move up to manage my own produce department included this question: “There’s a dozen other people lined up for just a couple of management positions. What makes you different from everyone else?”
Panic set into the pit of my gut. Deep down, my first thoughts were, “I haven’t a clue. In fact, I don’t know. What? A dozen others?” Why couldn’t they ask me questions that I knew by heart? Why didn’t they ask, “What’s an acceptable shrink percentage range in the produce department? When are Chilean grapes typically in season?” Or, how about, “You carried a scuffed-up orange helmet in here. What kind of motorcycle do you ride?”
Okay, that last one was an unlikely question the interview panel would have asked.
In the years preceding this day, I was fortunate to have worked with some excellent mentors. One pulled me aside one day, many months prior, and coached me on a glaring weakness.
“Why do you avoid talking with Ken, the store manager?” he asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. It’s not that I had anything against him. I just was outgoing enough within our crew but was very quiet otherwise. I did my work and chose not to engage much with “upper” management. And my produce manager saw it as a mistake.
“A store manager can be one of your biggest allies,” he said. “You need to talk to him. You know our business. Share our sales information with him, how much department percentage it represents. Talk about our gross profit and how it’s been steadily moving up. How you’ve trained all the new clerks. Things like that show him you care.”
He looked at me over his glasses. “You DO want to get promoted someday, don’t you?”
“Well yeah,” I said. “I just don’t want to come across as, you know …”
“You mean, like groveling, or apple polishing?” he said.
“Something like that,” I said. “But I’ve learned so much since being on the job. I can answer just about anything that he, or any customer in here, wants to know and believe I can handle just about anything. Isn’t that enough?”
My produce manager nodded and said it was a good start. “But there’s more to this gig than product knowledge or operational duties. In retail, it’s about building and fostering relationships.”
Talk about some prophetic words, as the business relationship message is interwoven, top to bottom, in any field.
From that point on, I did all I could to come out of that shell. It took some effort, but I forced myself to speak to not only the store manager about our produce department, but also to our district manager and even the produce supervisor when they dropped in.
It’s only by taking this step can an assistant do a little self-marketing. Although, at the time, I was just following my manager’s advice to let them all know I was around and showing interest in moving up. After that step, I volunteered to transfer, to take on responsibilities at new and busier stores. I was a young husband and father, hungry and, thus, motivated to achieve a little more.
And even though I was unpolished as any in the so-called “dozen” candidates, and certainly awkward in my interview, I tried to muster the courage to speak up as best I could and articulate some of these same thoughts into the answer about what made me different. It was a humble, yet rewarding, opening into a larger world.
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years of experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.
