How to reply to your boss when your boss ask you whether your new subordinate is competent/ good to let the boss have a good impression of you? I recently started to supervise a student writing his bachelor thesis. While he was about two weeks late in contacting me (which was apparently normal according to my colleagues; he also explained to me that he was busy), he seems to read the papers I recommended carefully before contacting me.
My professor (my boss) asked me whether I consider that student as good. I just told her that the student seems to read papers carefully. Now I wonder whether I did it correctly.
In general, when my superior ask me about the impression of my new subordinate, should I emphasize the good aspect or the bad aspect? (Some people told me that I should emphasize bad aspect so that if that subordinate turns out to be an incompetent one (i.e. yielding bad results), I would not be the one to blame.)
Should I mention something that is already normal e.g. in my case, the student contacted me about two weeks late?
Would there be any cultural differences in dealing with this (I am in Germany)?
(Would the answer be different if I am in a non-academic field?)
Reply honestly, especially if the supervisor is in a position to help the student overcome any deficiencies. It is fine to give facts, such as the lateness issue. But don't give either overly-positive or overly-negative interpretations of the facts.
Your statement that they seem to take care in reading was the right approach. Saying that they were late would also be fine, especially if you also ask whether that should be expected generally.
But the question &quot;is the student good&quot; is pretty hard to answer, as most everyone has both good and, shall we say, less good aspects to their observed behavior.
Honest. Objective.