Job Responsibilities
My job responsibilities include supervising at least 10 employees
in the Quality Assurance lab. Our lab is responsible for testing
the quality of the automotive finishes that are produced at out
plant. In my supervising responsibilities I hold a daily lineup
meeting at 7PM, where I assign work to my employees and talk
about any significant information that needs to be cascaded down
through the organization. I also cover safety incidents with my
peiople. This meeting usually lasts about 20 minutes. A typical
day for me lasts 12 hours. (As I said in my initial survey this
is a 24 hour/7 day operation. I work 12 hours 15 days a month.)
After lineup I have a meeting at 8PM with the afternoon shift
chemist where we talk about any problems with the product that
need to be addressed. This meeting typically lasts about 30
minutes.
Every other day I conduct a training effectiveness audit with at
least one employee. These audits are designed to insure that the
employees are following the test methods we use to test our
paint.
My responsibilities also include many administrative functions
that include, but are not limited to, scheduling vacation,
signing time cards, quarterly discussions on quality of work with
each employee, audits to insure safety rule compliance, audits to
insure housekeeping compliance, and if necessary corrective
action proceedings.
I am also responsible for authenticating the product that is
shipped to our customers. We have certificates of analysis (COA)
that go with each shipment and I insure that all the test
properties are within specification and sign and date the COA's.
We have supervisor meetings once a month with the head of the QA
department in which we discuss any ongoing issues that affect our
department.
The main thrust of my job is to answer questions from the
employees that they can't figure out for themselves. Sometimes I
have to get resourcing from other people particularly if a piece
of equipment is involved. Most of my day (65%) is spent "putting
out fires" and insuring we ship quality paint to our customers.
The other 35% is spent on administrative duties.
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Job Requirements
Dupont is a company that believes in promoting from within. I do
not have a college degree though I have 2 years of college.
Before I hired in to the Dupont organization I was in the Army
for 10 years and believe that is where I got the majority of my
leadership skills.
My 2 two years of college were in pre-pharmacy and I didn't
finish because my parents had 3 of us in college at the same time
and the money ran out.
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Uppers
For me the uppers are working with people. I have the freedom to mentor people
help them become better at their jobs.
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Downers
The biggest downer is when you have to put someone in corrective
action.
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Lifestyle
As I said I work fifteen twelve hour nights a month. My shift starts at 7PM
however I arrive at 6:30PM to get turnover from the day shift supervisor.
There is very little business travel associated with being a 1st line supervisor
unless there is some type of training off site.
There are not many company social events these days because of cost cutting and
downsizing. We are only as profitable as the automotive industry.
The dress code for most Dupont sites is very casual. In my current position I
dress for comfort and wear a lab coat.
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Compensation
Without going into a lot of detail I made more than $80,000.00 in
2004. We also have a fairly decent medical plan and a 401k
program.
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Advice to Jobseekers
If you are considering ANY job that includes supervising people
you need to be sure that you will be able to administer
corrective action if necessary. It is easy to become friendly
with your employees and you have to be able to separate your
personal feelings when necessary. Particularly for a company that
believes in promoting from within. One day you're working with a
person and the next day they might be reporting to you.
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