What Is a Staff Manager? Key Roles and Duties

What is a staff manager?

A staff manager is a professional who oversees a team of employees, providing them with information and guidance. They work in a variety of different industries and departments. In general, they are responsible for keeping their team motivated and performing at its best.

What does a staff manager do?

Staff managers are responsible for keeping staff engaged, motivated and involved. They often handle many of the same tasks, regardless of the industry in which they work. Some of their primary responsibilities include:

Interviewing and hiring employees and ensuring they’re properly trained
Offering constant feedback to keep everyone in sync
Conducting periodic performance reviews
Keeping production and morale high and taking steps to improve retention
Managing staff schedules and assigning individual responsibilities
Ensuring that the workforce is satisfied in their roles
Maintaining the formal and informal traditions within the organization
Recognizing gaps in skills and offering training to improve staff performance

Benefits of hiring a staff manager

There are a number of advantages to hiring a staff manager, including:

Higher retention:When employees are satisfied with their roles, they’re more likely to stay with a company for a long period of time. Because the primary responsibility for staff managers is to keep morale high and ensure the satisfaction of the team, they can have a significant impact on employee retention.
Better productivity:Staff managers continually monitor the performance of their staff, offering constant feedback and providing additional training when necessary. This helps employees performing at their best, keeping company productivity high.
Streamlined service:Staff managers know the strengths and weaknesses of their individual team members and can, therefore, create a schedule and assign individual duties to ensure a complementary mix of personality types and an efficiently operated shift.

How to hire a staff manager

Here are the steps to take to hire a staff manager:

1. Research the role

Start your search by reviewing similar job descriptions and understanding the skills you want to find in a candidate. Make a list of the common keywords that show up in many of the job descriptions. Evaluate the level of education required for similar positions and what level you would like to see in a candidate. Many staff managers are required to have at least a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, while other companies prefer those who have a master’s. However, depending on your industry and the skills required for the role, a candidate with a vocational school certificate may be qualified.

2. Create a job description

Create a job description for the staff manager position using an accurate description of the person’s responsibilities. Include a clear list of educational and work history requirements. Keep the tone of the job description friendly and informative. Refer back to similar job descriptions to help you create a compelling one for yourself. When you’re done, post it to Indeed to start promoting the opening.

3. Review applicants

The next step is to start filtering for the top candidates. As you evaluate resumes, remove the ones from your list who don’t match the key requirements. Send them an email thanking them for applying but letting them know that they weren’t the best fit for the role. To determine which candidates are the best fit for the staff manager position, evaluate their experience and educational background. Specifically, look at their:

Skills and experience to ensure it matches the job description
Career progression
Past achievements
Attention to detail (examine their resume for typos and grammatical errors)

4. Interview the best candidates

Depending on the number of qualified candidates who apply, you may want to do a 15- to 20-minute phone screening for each person to better understand their background and qualifications for the role. Of those candidates, you should invite at least three to do a formal interview. Ask questions that help you determine their skills and evaluate their enthusiasm for the position. You should also ask behavioral questions that help you evaluate their problem-solving abilities. Some interview questions to ask include:

Describe your management style.
How do you approach conflict between team members?
How do you manage stress among your team?
Tell me about a time you led by example.
What strategies do you use to motivate people?
What are your biggest strengths and weaknesses as a manager?
Tell me about a tough decision you had to make.

5. Check references

After completing interviews, check references for your top candidates. This gives you the opportunity to verify skills and gain additional insights into what kind of manager the candidate would be. Ask that each of your top candidates provide you with a minimum of three professional references who can offer insight into their qualifications. Some questions you may want to ask their references include:

Can you confirm their title and responsibilities?
Tell me about the candidate’s work ethic.
Describe their leadership abilities.
What would you say are their biggest strengths and weaknesses?
Would you recommend them for this role? Why?

6. Select your candidate and extend an offer

Schedule a time over the phone and extend them an offer at that time. If they accept, send them a formal offer in writing that includes the salary, benefits, start date and other relevant information.

What Is a Staff Manager? Key Roles and Duties