The next time your potential supervisor interviews you, listen to the pronouns they use to decode their management style — and avoid a potentially bad boss.
Photo by Gangplank HQ
This tip from Forbes applies not just to an interview, but any time you’ll be working with someone else:
If your interviewer uses the term “you” in communicating negative information (such as, “you will deal with a lot of ambiguity”), don’t expect the boss to be a mentor. If the boss chooses the word “I” to describe the department’s success — that’s a red flag. If the interviewer says “we” in regards to a particular challenge the team or company faced, it may indicate that he or she deflects responsibility and places blame.
Check the link for other things you can use to avoid a bad boss at the interview stage.
Comments
4 responses to “Learn The Secrets Of Pronoun Usage To Avoid A Bad Boss”
So in summary, good bosses don’t use pronouns at all? This is nonsense.
Yeah, my boss uses “we” a lot, but only when he’s trying to shift blame and can’t fully remove it from himself.
A team takes the good and the bad, as a team. I prefer the ‘we’ boss.
Alternatively “If the interviewer says “we” in regards to a particular challenge the team or company faced, it may indicate that he or she…..” is actually sharing responsibility and sharing in the blame, if there is any; and not deflecting responsibility.
Saying ‘we’ is the best pronoun a boss can use. It is usually interpreted as being a positive statement, unless the boss is trying to spread the blame for his/her individual mistake.