Amtec Hiring Guides

How to Hire Operations Directors in Portland

Amtec Hiring Guides

How to Hire Operations Directors in Portland

Current Environment

Overseeing so many aspects of a business can be a very daunting task for a director of operations. From managing the smallest detail to the largest project plan with projections and analysis, a director of operations has a long responsibility list. However, it can be a very rewarding career once you see the fruits of effective management bring efficient flow in the workplace and lower costs of operation.

Individuals who serve as the director of operations may be employed in the private or public sector. They may direct, plan, and coordinate the operations of businesses and organizations of various sizes and in a variety of industries.

The person in the role must ensure that his or her company’s daily activities run smoothly. It is also the responsibility of the director to set parameters to judge how effectively and efficiently the business or organization is operating. A great deal of a director’s time is spent evaluating and reviewing business procedures to find and improve processes to save time and money. He or she may also be responsible for overseeing and reviewing the work of management executives.

In addition to the title of director of operations, similar positions in specific industries sometimes go by different titles, such as general and operations managers and industrial production managers. The data for all these iterations of this position have been combined in the state and national data below.

History

Operations management has obviously been through a significant transformation since the industrial revolution; however, much of what was initially implemented is still, in one way or another, held in place over the years.

How will Recruiting operations directors Help Your Company?

How will Hiring operations directors Help Your Company?

The director of operations will continue to be important in helping companies—big and small—prepare for the future as utilizing new technologies can help companies stay afloat and even get ahead.

The hiring of a director of operations can affect both your existing team and your bottom line. A good performer can enhance business productivity through in-depth analysis, encouraging collaboration between departments to forecast revenue and budget needs, involvement with the long-term planning of business goals.

Although management is charged with managing the day-to-day operations of the company or specific projects, directors and sometimes managers are responsible for its oversight and should be mindful of their fiduciary duties in that role.

director of operations Details

Responsibilities

Being the Director of Operations or the Operations Manager is a very rewarding profession once you see the fruits of your effective management. Your work can create effective and efficient flow in the workplace, lower operational costs, and increase revenue.

Before we get to exactly how to recruit the best director of operations in [city_name], here are some of the responsibilities of the job…..

  • Analyze data to look at trends and find problems
  • Ensure that company policies are followed
  • Optimize business workflows
  • Create new company policies and processes
  • Create a sustainable supply chain
  • Reduce costs in manufacturing
  • Monitor employee production and satisfaction
  • Set team and individual goals

Looking for another position? View other positions we place in Portland, Oregon.

Education

Directors of Operations typically require a high level of education. While a bachelor’s degree in business administration may be sufficient, individuals looking to obtain such a high level position will likely need to have significant experience and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or a graduate degree in Supply Chain Management.

Top Schools – US News & World Report rankings

Top Schools

  •

    Stanford University

  • The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

  • Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University

2019 U.S. National Data

Salary Range

operations directors in the U.S.

$55k
Low
$119k
Average
$192k
High

$104k

Average OR
Salary

$50.11

Average OR
Hourly
1332k

Total operations directors Employed in the U.S.

73.5%

Men

26.5%

Women

director of operations Salary Comparison

National

The role of the director of operations is a very important one. As such, incumbents can and should expect to be paid quite well. Highly qualified and well-educated candidates can expect to be well into the high six figures. All said these positions pay well, but a lot is expected of those who hold the role.

Oregon

The average annual salary for operations directors in Oregon was 104k in 2019. The hourly wage averaged $50.11.

For more detailed compensation information for operations directors in Portland, download our free compensation/salary report below.

Working in Portland

Do operations directors find the city of Portland a good place to live and work? There seems to be a large community of people who adore Portland and would never want to live anywhere else. On the other side of that coin, there are things about living in the city that are not rated highly.

The city is a very beautiful place and offers a unique opportunity for outdoor recreation with the ocean one hour west and the mountains one hour east. The city also celebrates open spaces, gardens, and green living.  On the jobs front, Portland has emerged as a tech haven, thus the moniker “Silicon Forest”.

Here are a few other pros for Portland.

Pros

    • Outdoor recreation. In Portland, it’s not event-based. It’s a lifestyle. And the city easily accommodates adventure and exploration with easy access to urban forests, trails, and bike paths.
    • Natural beauty: With Mount Hood towering in the distance, sprawling urban forests, the sparkling Willamette River flowing through the middle of town, and 275 public parks and gardens, it’s a truly beautiful city.
    • Diversity. Portland is also a place of strong character, and the city attracts and welcomes people of the same ilk. After all, an unofficial tagline for the city is “Keep Portland Weird”.
    • Transportation. This Quora exchange explains how one Portlander enjoys the option of walking, biking, taking light rail, bus or streetcar. The options are numerous because the downtown is built densely in small blocks.
    • Jobs. As Oregon’s largest city, almost four times larger than the next largest city, Portland offers the greatest number of job opportunities. Recruitment agency and staffing company services are also available from Amtec for Portland.
    • No sales tax. YAY!

On the other hand, there are a few complaints about living and working in the city.

Cons

    • The weather. For those with Seasonal Affective Disorder, the climate can be a challenge. The city sees an average of 144 days of sunshine, and the other days are cloudy or rainy. and’s climate would not be good.
    • High housing costs. Home purchase costs and rents were rising prior to the pandemic, and that has accelerated due to the low inventory of available homes.
    • Traffic. Although public transportation gets a thumbs up, more people are starting to talk about traffic as an issue in the city.
Portland, Oregon

Current Weather

Not your city? View other cities where we place operations directors.

Demand for operations directors in Portland

Demand for operations directors in Portland

There will always be a steady demand for competent directors of operations; this is projected to continue to be the case for the next 10 years. The projected growth is about average when compared to other job growth projections. The job outlook nationally is 4%.

The supply of candidates and demand for open positions have a direct correlation to a company's ability to hire. Download a free Supply and Demand report for operations directors in Portland, Oregon below.

How to Hire the Best operations directors

Finding and hiring the best director of operations candidates can save you money right away and well into the future.

The costs of making a bad hire are well documented. The cost can run as much as 30% of the employee's first-year earnings according to the US Department of Labor. Bad hires can cost a whopping $240,000 in expenses related to hiring, compensation, and retention per The Undercover Recruiter. 74% of companies who admit they've hired the wrong person for a position lost an average of $14,900 for each bad hire according to CareerBuilder. These statistics support our long-held position that behavioral questions are the best way to get to know your candidates and past behavior is the best indicator of future performance.

Recruiting Best Practices

The information below comes from the best practices Amtec uses for finding the highest quality candidates.

Defining the Position

When defining the role you are creating, we recommend a position profile to fully evaluate the position you are hiring for. You must decide if the engineer can work remotely or must work in Oregon. If working in Portland is essential, make sure you include that in your job posting so candidates can decide how many miles they can commute.

How to Source the Best Candidates

When you are looking to source the best quality candidates for your open positions, make sure you have done the legwork to hire an "A Player". You can do this by making sure your company's perspective is aligned with the current market, you have taken into account the job responsibilities, as well as what type of characteristics you are looking for to fit your company culture. Then proceed to write a job posting to attract high-quality candidates.

Characteristics of operations directors

Directors of operations are expected to bring in the skills required in the organization to meet the goals of the company.

Some advanced skills, such as expertise in their chosen industry and managerial skills are expected. Skills like accounting, finance, sales, customer service, marketing, or advertising are good essential. The person filling this important role has to be versatile in learning new skills as it is necessary to keep up with everyday changes in the industry, especially as it relates to new up-and-coming technologies.

This is an incredibly important role that has the very real potential to set the tone for the overall success of the business. Some have even gone so far as to say that a director of operations should be a new company’s first hire.

How to Screen Candidates

You wrote a job posting, posted the position online, and received a lot more resumes than you’d bargained for! Next comes the enormous task of sorting through those resumes to eliminate the ones that are clearly not a good fit. Now, you have a stack of resumes for candidates who have potential. So how do you go about screening the remaining candidates?

It starts on the phone! As a recruiter, the goal of your telephone screening is to learn more about your candidates. You can confirm that they have the educational qualifications and relevant experience, but you also need to determine if they would fit into your company's culture. To make this job easier, use a system to consistently evaluate results. This way you can equally and objectively compare candidates and evaluate their "soft skills", like communication and thinking process. Download Amtec's Professional Assessment Questionnaire below to help with screening candidates.

Free Professional Assessment Questionnaire

An individually customized questionnaire that helps assess a candidate's competence with written communication skills, thinking processes, and other relevant skills.

How to Interview Candidates

At Amtec, we believe in the power of behavoral interview questions to go beyond the experience and skills listed on the candidate's resume. Although you will want to confirm in the interview that the candidate does indeed have the experience listed on their resume, your assessment needs to go much deeper than that. An interview using behavioral questions can help you determine how well the candidate will fit with your company culture.

Download Amtec's best practices on conducting super effective interviews to find the best candidates and fill your open jobs.

Behavioral Interview Guide

Get the info you need to hire the best operations directors

Free Interview Guide