Photo: Lemonblind (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Job description
The job spans whatever a specific organization needs: reviewing financial statements and activity reports to spot where productivity is lagging or costs need cutting, coordinating production, pricing, or sales across departments, and building staff schedules. Because the duties are deliberately broad rather than tied to one function like HR or purchasing, managers typically operate through subordinate supervisors rather than doing hands-on work themselves. The pace is often fast with real deadline pressure, and the role regularly involves smoothing over frustrated employees or customers while exercising significant independent judgment.
Pros
- High upside earning potential, up to $253k
- Faster than average projected job growth (4.4% over the next decade)
- A very large number of positions nationwide (over 308,000), so opportunities exist almost everywhere
Cons
- Above-average hours, expect more than a standard 40-hour work week
- Fast pace with real time pressure and accountability for multiple departments at once
- Regularly dealing with frustrated employees or customers as the person responsible for outcomes
A typical day
The GM's 8:30 stand-up pulls every department into one room for fifteen minutes: sales pacing behind plan, a supplier delay threatening next week's output, two open positions in operations. The morning goes to the levers — approving an overtime plan to cover the supply gap, then a pricing decision escalated from sales that the GM settles with margin math and a judgment call. The afternoon is people and process: a quarterly review with a department head, a walk of the floor where the GM asks front-line workers what is broken (and hears the truth), and a capital request analyzed. The last hour is the monthly P&L, line by line, because everything in the building eventually shows up there.
Tasks at the job
- Review financial statements, sales or activity reports, or other performance data to measure productivity or goal achievement or to identify areas needing cost reduction or program improvement.
- Direct and coordinate activities of businesses or departments concerned with the production, pricing, sales, or distribution of products.
- Direct administrative activities directly related to making products or providing services.
- Prepare staff work schedules and assign specific duties.
- Direct or coordinate financial or budget activities to fund operations, maximize investments, or increase efficiency.
- Plan or direct activities, such as sales promotions, that require coordination with other department managers.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting.
The pace is often fast, with real time pressure to meet deadlines, and you're expected to exercise significant independent judgment day to day. The work is highly structured, following set procedures. You'll regularly deal with frustrated or upset people as part of the job, and almost all of the work is done as part of a team.
Education necessary or common
Bachelor's degree
Common college majors
Licenses & certifications
- MBA common mid-career
- Lean/Six Sigma credentials in operations-heavy paths
- PMP for project-driven organizations
Career path
Related fields
Courses to take
- Business — the survey course for the whole career
- Accounting — P&L literacy is the general manager's native language
- AP Statistics — decisions from data, not anecdotes
- Public Speaking — alignment is communicated, not assumed
- AP Psychology — managing managers is the job
Clubs, activities & competitions
- Lead something with moving parts: student council, a large event, a team
- DECA or FBLA management events
- A part-time job where you watch a business run end to end
- Team captaincy
First steps you can take now
- Run one complex project with a budget, deadline, and other people
- Read one business classic (The Goal is the operations pick) and apply one idea
- Interview a GM of any local business about their week
- Learn to read an income statement
