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Ten Critical Differences between Executive Job "Candidates" and Executive Job "Getters": Part One
by Jason Seiden (KSM02)
Peruse the typical interviewing guide and you will inevitably learn that when going through a job interview you should sit up strait, speak confidently, be knowledgeable about your prospective employer, dress crisply, lean forward in your chair, etc., etc., etc.
Conducting a more in-depth review of the literature will further prepare you to handle tough questions about work experience, to explain potentially negative aspects of your résumé in a positive light, and to demonstrate that you have actually learned a thing or two from the experiences you have had to date.
When I conduct an executive assessment, I assume that the candidate I am meeting has all the characteristics described (and suggested) above. This is the baseline for upper level jobs-stuff that once got you into a job now merely gets you into the game. If you want to ace an executive interview-if you want a positive recommendation from someone like me sitting across the table-here are 10 things you'll have to do to stand out from the crowd:
Before you do anything else, connect with the interviewer as a person.
Right at the outset, take a moment to be personable and address the person who will be interviewing you as someone greater than his or her role as interviewer. Connect with this person-ask a question that demonstrates awareness of his or her life. Do it immediately, since once you are in your roles as interviewer/interviewee, the opportunity will have permanently closed. Taking 15 seconds to demonstrate your social skills is a far more effective strategy than merely talking about them, regardless of how much you think you have to say.
In the interview, be the person you intend to become in the new job.
If you can't see yourself in the new job, neither can the interviewer. This means going beyond projecting confidence; it means demonstrating awareness of the types of issues, struggles, opportunities, and decisions you will face in the new role, as well as an appropriately high-level perspective for addressing them. For instance, a successful CIO candidate will articulate an expected shift from basing her team's activities on someone else's "business requirements" to basing them on a strategy that she herself will play an active role in shaping. This implies an entirely different kind of research than reading annual reports: prior to the interview, you'll need to tap into colleagues, friends, and mentors-as well as your own imagination-to get a sense for the job you'll be stepping into.
Answer both the question asked as well as the question you think the interviewer is trying to ask.
Once you get the gist of where the interview is heading, run with it! Take a risk in pursuit of your goal: as fast as you can, determine the pattern of the interview, then lead your interviewer along. Appropriate risk taking, the ability to handle ambiguity, and leadership are skills your employer will be looking for in an executive hire, and there is no better way to communicate that you have them than through a demonstration. The alternative, answering only the exact question asked, can indicate a need for frequent feedback/direction, and discomfort with strategic, fluid issues... as well as possibly a poor work ethic, if your answers are consistently incomplete.
Be positive, relax, and laugh... or at least, smile a lot. If you can't handle the pressure of the interview, you'll have a tough time convincing anybody that you have the ability to handle the pressures of the job!
Be prepared to discuss both your strengths and shortcomings. If an interviewer asks you to talk about your strengths and shortcomings, and you skip one or the other, you provide a pretty big clue that you lack confidence, the ability to juggle multiple requests simultaneously, or both. If you say "I really can't think of any" when pressed again for shortcomings, the interviewer's suspicions about your confidence will increase. She may now also question your self-awareness. If you still don't engage meaningfully after being asked for shortcomings a third time, the interviewer will also have to wonder if you might lack good judgment, humility, and/or the ability to work with authority. Through all this, the one thing the interviewer knows for sure is that you don't lack shortcomings! Certainly, be tactful and use discretion in how you communicate weakness. If you get away with expressing a strength as a shortcoming-for instance, by saying you are too impatient for results-good for you. But if the interviewer doesn't let you off the hook, assume it's because she already knows what she's looking for, especially if she is an outside assessor. Have the courage to know yourself well, note what you are doing to overcome your shortcomings, and articulate how you intend to work around them moving forward.
(Part Two of this article is available now.)
Jason Seiden is the founder of Seiden & Associates, an strategic HR consulting firm that develops and supports competent, courageous leadership teams. He received his Masters in Business Administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management (TMP '02), with dual concentrations in Organizational Behavior and Finance, and his Bachelor of Science in Economics, with a concentration in Entrepreneurial Management, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jason's consulting clients include both global leaders and entrepreneurial firms, in industries as varied as healthcare, logistics, business services, aerospace/defense, insurance, and law. He is the author of How to Self-Destruct: Making the Least of What's Left of Your Career and is an Adjunct Instructor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, where he teaches graduate level courses in leadership and negotiations.
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