Dear Bob ... I could use some advice. I'm working on a contract that is probably going to end in September. I have no confidence in any of my management chain. My immediate 'supervisor' is an idiot, and our boss has told him to straighten out or he's going to replace my supervisor with me (essentially swapping our two positions). I talked with our boss this week, and he assured me t Dear Bob … I could use some advice. I’m working on a contract that is probably going to end in September. I have no confidence in any of my management chain. My immediate ‘supervisor’ is an idiot, and our boss has told him to straighten out or he’s going to replace my supervisor with me (essentially swapping our two positions). I talked with our boss this week, and he assured me that the decision to do that has been made, but there are other issues/hoops/whatever to be dealt with before this change is made. I’m ready to be a supervisor, but haven’t had any “official” experience in supervision.It seems unlikely that the company I work for will have any other work for me following the end of this contract, so I need to start looking for another job. Should I stick with this job in the hopes that management will get it’s act together and make the job switch soon, giving me a few months of official supervisory experience? Or should I start my job search in earnest and if an offer comes that I like, take it and screw the company? I’ve only worked for this company for five months, and I knew the work was ending in less than a year when I accepted the job (I was laid off from my previous job where I had 20 years of experience). It’s not easy finding a job here in my area of expertise (which seems to be ‘jack of all trades, master of none’). I’m a hard worker, and a perfectionist, but my tech skills are now old. I’ve kind of fallen into being a software QA analyst due to my perfectionistic tendencies. I know I should learn some more current software, but haven’t managed to find the time. Another quandary I have is that my position pays very well, and I doubt I’ll be able to find another job that pays this salary.How should I present myself in interviews and when talking about salary requirements in interviews and such? I don’t want to sound desperate, but then if I can stay at my current salary, I’d of course love to do that.– Not sure what’s next Dear Not Sure …If your immediate supervisor is an idiot, and his boss threatened him with a reversal of his position and yours instead of threatening him with a demotion and leaving you out of it, your current situation doesn’t sound promising. With one poor manager in your leadership chain you can wait it out. With two, there isn’t much to hope for – if you get the promotion, you’ll be reporting to someone who apparently doesn’t know how to handle an important staffing issue.How should you present yourself in an interview? There’s no answer to that until you decide what kind of position you want, with what kind of company, and with what kind of manager. I would certainly advise against starting with your salary goals and then solving for the position. You’re almost guaranteed to end up in a position you don’t like, reporting to someone else you don’t respect. If you get hired.This isn’t new advice: Start with the Venn Diagram – what you’re good at, what you enjoy, and what someone else is willing to pay for. The intersection is where you should be looking.Then, take the advice I keep repeating from Nick Corcodilos’ Ask The Headhunter: Fire bullets, not shotgun blasts. Choose specific targets, find a way to have conversations directly with the hiring manager. Do the job in the interview – talk about what you’d do to address real situations. You want to have a business conversation, not an interview. Hold off any and all salary discussions until you and the hiring manager are confident you have a good match. From his/her perspective it means you’re interested in the work. From your perspective it means you set the hook before you try to catch the fish.Perhaps, offer to start as a contractor so both you and the hiring company can make sure it’s a good fit. Most mergers and acquisitions fail because of a cultural mismatch. A hiring decision isn’t much different from a mini-merger; many of these fail for equivalent reasons.Short version: Right now, you’re focused on getting out of the situation you’re in. I think you need to figure out where you want to go and stop focusing on where you want to leave. – Bob Technology Industry