What an operations manager really does
You keep the whole operation running: people, schedules, costs and suppliers, and you make dozens of calls a day that other people live with.
FieldBusiness
Preparation (O*NET Job Zone)Considerable preparation needed
What the work involves
What fills a typical week for operations managers, built from O*NET occupation data.
- Check yesterday's numbers on output, costs and errors and decide what needs fixing first
- Build and adjust staff schedules and assign people where the work is
- Coordinate with sales, purchasing and finance when their plans affect your floor
- Chase suppliers and carriers who are late or over budget
- Hire, train and coach supervisors and handle people problems as they come up
- Set or update procedures, including safety rules, and make sure they are followed
What the days are like
What people in the job know
- You decide things all day long, and most of those decisions affect other people's work. Frequency of Decision Making: 93% every day; Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results: 72% very important results (O*NET Work Context)
- Long weeks are the norm, not a busy season exception. Duration of Typical Work Week: 70% more than 40 hours (O*NET Work Context)
- You are responsible for other people's safety, even if your title has nothing to do with safety. Health and Safety of Other Workers: 61% very high responsibility, 36% high (O*NET Work Context)
- Your results are mostly other people's results; you are judged on what your team gets done. Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers: 62% very high responsibility (O*NET Work Context)
- Conflict is regular. Expect to referee between departments or people most weeks. Conflict Situations: 11% every day, 34% once a week or more, 35% once a month or more (O*NET Work Context)
How people get into it
Job Zone 4: considerable preparation, usually several years of related work experience. O*NET respondents are split on education (29% say a high school diploma is required, 27% a bachelor's degree, 22% some college), so many operations managers are promoted from supervisor or team lead roles, while others enter with a business degree.
The Firstday trial, easy to hard
Three simulated tasks at Copperline Home Goods, FC1, a fictional company, with AI coworkers who message you, react to your work and coach with questions. Nobody scores you.
What the trial can't show: The trial cannot show walking the floor, reading the mood of a team in person, the physical side of the operation such as noise, safety gear and moving equipment, or the slow work of hiring and developing people over months. Personnel decisions here are simulated through messages and short roleplays.
Reading about it is one thing.
Find out how the work feels to you before you spend on a degree, course or job change. Your first trial is free.
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Job details on this page are built from O*NET OnLine, 11-1021.00. This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.