A strong, positive relationship with your manager is one of the most critical components of loving your job.
You are not expected (or likely) to thrive working under any manager under the sun; all managers have different approaches to leadership, communication, defining and evaluating success, work-life balance and mentorship--as do you. Just like finding the right partner in love, fit is important.
What you are expected to do, however, is work hard during your interview process to learn as much as you can about your prospective manager in order to make the most educated guess as possible about whether you will fit and thrive working together.
Of course, you’re also half responsible for making your relationship with your manager great after you’ve accepted the job (fit doesn’t mean everything comes easy!). But that lesson is for another day. First, let’s focus on concrete steps to helping you evaluate your prospective manager before you get so excited about your offer that you forget to do your due diligence:
- What to research about your prospective manager before meeting her/him
- How to develop your question list for your in-person meeting
- Reflection questions for after your meeting