Lauren Kurtz Professor J Armstrong BMGT360 Sec 0105 September 14 2012 Personal Introduction Interview of a Manager As a double major in Supply Chain Management and Business Management I am very open minded about where I would like to go with my future career path While I study these subjects in school I cannot avoid my deep rooted passion for philanthropy sustainability and all aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility With experience in Human Resources Supply Chain Corporate Social Responsibility and Event Planning I hope to be able to use one of these skill sets in my future endeavors Upon receiving this assignment I knew that I wanted to interview one of my managers from this summer Greg Evelhoch was my Supply Chain manager until he moved into a new position Although he was in a new role he continued to mentor me in different Supply Chain lessons about the business As a great leader and manager in the time I spent there I knew he would have very valuable advice to offer for this assignment Interview Name Greg Evelhoch Company Mars Inc Position Value Stream Manager Hackettstown Plant Mars Chocolate North America Beginning Date August 2012 Previous Position Order Fulfillment Manager Customer Care Mars Chocolate North America Please explain your day to day responsibilities On a daily basis I am responsible for the scheduling of 21 production lines scheduling of raw materials and packaging of production receiving of materials staging materials for production chocolate making for M Ms and Peanut M Ms and shipping to warehouses and customers What has been the biggest adjustment going from your last position into your new one Learning the skill levels of the 14 direct reports and 30 indirect reports It is a challenge to have 34 new people reporting to me that I need to thoroughly understand what their skill sets are What are your busy seasons Our busiest time of the year is from June September Halloween and Christmas are specifically busy holidays As a seasonal company with Halloween and Christmas being your major seasons how does your role as a manager change based on the season I would say we are a seasonal business but not a seasonal company We have seasons that are busier but we are not necessarily a seasonal company For my job in particular during these seasons I m putting in a ton of overtime and hiring more temporary labor Bringing in people to do temporary labor can be difficult the temps do not feel total loyalty to the company that full time Associates feel On the other hand our full time Associates need to be balanced so as not to burn them out by working too much during these busy times What is Mars attitude towards becoming an environmentally sustainable business How does this affect your role as a manager Our manufacturing plants are moving towards 0 landfill We currently strive to reduce reuse and recycle everything Our main goal right now is to eliminate all landfill We monitor and try to reduce energy consumption An example of this is the field of solar panels next to our Hackettstown plant we are trying to use as much solar energy as possible As a company value Mars encourages their Associates to change positions every two years This enables Associates to learn several parts of the business as well as remain engaged rather than bored with their job Ideally where do you see yourself five years from now Will you still be working with Mars Will you be in a new management position What is your goal In five years I would ideally like to be at a director level hopefully at Mars If it does not work out that I can move into this position at Mars I would stay open minded about other opportunities My goal is to stay with Mars because they are a great company and I feel very loyal to the but I have developed diverse supply chain knowledge that should be effectively utilized in a director position What preparations would you recommend I make for entry into this field as a profession To come into this field being a supply chain major with a business background helps My biggest piece of advice is to capitalize on your communication skills and being able to talk to people and maximize other peoples potential Push people to do as well as they can without driving them nuts Going into a manager position you should have people who report to you want to come to work the next day and enjoy their job People should understand that work can be fun as well but it s still a business Like how do you manage people older than you You introduce change management and how you make things better not just keep things the way they have been done in the past Older people do not like to change as much and do not deserve to be fired because they do not like change it is based on whether you are able to adapt to change or not Most importantly get comfortable with being uncomfortable This is a new expectation of people entering the workforce For instance after school I was rejected 45 times but walked away with 5 offers Be able to handle rejection because you cannot pinpoint 2 or 3 companies and assume you ll get a job Summary of the Interview Upon receiving this assignment I knew that Greg Evelhoch would be a perfect candidate to present about Not only has he had numerous manager roles but he has also worked with a variety of employees He is a hard working dedicated Associate of Mars Inc and has rightfully earned every position he has fallen into As my own personal manager he took it upon himself to teach me as much as possible in the short period of time we had together During this time he set me up in networking positions He scheduled weekly meetings for me with different people in the Supply Chain field at Mars He covered so many areas of Supply Chain including Customer Care Replenishment Plant Tour Warehouse Tour Flex Commercial and Demand Planning As a Supply Chain intern there is nothing more I could have asked for As a manager he exceeded all of my expectations I had an incredible experience at the company this summer and a lot of it was due to his positive attitude and welcoming approach Catching up with him over the course of this interview was delightful Although I believed I would know some of the answers ahead of time he always seemed to surprise me with new material Some of the advice he provided me with was extremely memorable For example his words get comfortable with being uncomfortable resonate very much with me Entering the working world in less than a year will be very difficult if