Ace an Interview for an Executive Position

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All job interviews have common goals and objectives—identify the best candidate for the position. However, interviews for C-level positions have a deeper focus and require more preparation on your part than for other opportunities.

Regardless of the opportunity, executive job search firms expect that qualified candidates perform research on the potential employer prior to an interview. C-level opportunities demand that candidates go the extra mile to uncover even the minutia of employer information.


Branding Is an Important Component for C-Level Interviews

Your personal brand has become a key component for executive recruiting and interview requirements for senior management positions. This component requires that you display a strong “promise” of value to the employer.

However, even highly experienced executives often ask, “How can I display my personal brand within the time and flexibility constraints of a first executive position interview?” This fair question is made more challenging by the reality that too many interviewers are simply not very adept at interviewing.

If possible, you can control most of the conversation, keeping the interviewer focused on your topics and promoting your brand. While not always convenient, if you can achieve control, you can better display your qualifications, professionalism and potential “fit” for the position and the company.

Should you control the conversation, you will be able to display and reinforce your brand throughout the interview. You should convince the interviewer that you have valuable strengths, deep passion and valuable personal traits and habits. These features are the essence of your brand.

Structure your statements to clearly identify who you are and where your passion lies. Your brand is not a listing of your wonderful executive accomplishments. Your brand is who you are, your creativity, your innovation, your motivation, and your deep commitment to excel. If you have prepared properly, controlling the interview permits you to state your mission and brand components effectively.

Successful C-level executive recruiting requires the interviewer or selection committee learning about your brand. This is the only way potential employers can make an informed, intelligent decision at this senior level.

 

Acing the Senior Executive Interview

  • Research, research, research. At this senior level, learning a “little” about the company is not sufficient. Even if you are staying in your current industry, research this industry thoroughly. Research the company in depth. You must have a strong answer ready for the common question, “What do you know about our company?” Research your interviewer(s). At this level, you will face a more impressively titled professional than for lesser positions. Often, you will face a hiring committee composed of other senior executives or board members. If you received the interview invitation using executive job search firms, they should know with whom you will meet. Use Internet search engines, Facebook and/or LinkedIn to learn all you can about your interviewer(s).

  • Prepare, prepare, prepare. Be comfortable and ready to make a lasting positive impression in the first 15 seconds of the meeting. A warm greeting, firm handshake, and uplifting opening comment can influence the remainder of the meeting in your favor. Prepare an early-interview question that displays your company research and engages the interviewer(s). If the office or conference room has any interesting photos, awards, etc., make a positive comment to put the interviewer(s) at ease. As noted, be sure to brand yourself as early as possible.

  • Make your “story” interesting and be likeable. Prepare one or more career success stories to enhance your brand and qualifications. Practice your stories to enhance your answers to behavioral interview questions, usually in the format, “Tell us about a time when you . . .” If you’re not asked a similar question, interject your story when it is appropriate. Tell it in an upbeat, positive, likeable manner to reinforce your brand and winning personality.

  • Prepare for the difficult questions and rehearse tirelessly. Even non-full-time interviewers will usually ask “difficult” questions at C-level interviews, as they know these queries force you to think and reveal. Classic challenging questions include “What is your greatest strength? Strongest weakness? Why did you leave your last position? How do you manage stress? What happened when you’ve made unpopular decisions and how did you deal with unwelcome responses?” Rehearse your answers until you can deliver them flawlessly “off the top of your head.”

  • Prepare thoughtful questions to ask the interviewer. Your questions should display your knowledge of the company, the C-level position, the industry, and other meaningful issues a strong candidate would want to know (i.e., “Why is this position open?”). Since these usually occupy the last portion of the interview, try to structure these questions as your “big finish.” You want to leave your interviewer(s) with positive impressions of your intelligence, brand, suitability for the position, and projected “fit” for their corporate culture, which can have a lasting effect as employers select the finalists.

Executive job search firms understand these important features of a successful interview and may offer some valuable suggestions to you. Executive recruiting can involve factors different from most staff and middle management interviews. As a C-level candidate, you should be aware of the similarities and differences. This knowledge will help you ace interviews and generate stimulating offers.


Source:
http://executivecareerbrand.com/prepare-to-ace-brand-your-c-level-executive-job-interview/