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.
“Sing from your toes.”
My little sister earns her living as a musical theater actor. The advice she was given before she started auditioning for Broadway shows was to always “sing from her toes.” It turns out that that’s the minimum requirement for having a shot at a role: treating each audition as if it is the last performance she will ever give in her entire life. She holds nothing back. Not surprisingly, auditions are exhausting for her. Perhaps also not surprisingly, she has been consistently employed ever since graduating from NU six years ago. If you want the job, you need to want the job more than anyone else out there—that’s the essence of singing from your toes. Direct all your passion and energy on the one goal of getting the job. Fill the room with your presence. Be larger than life. Extend your energy outwards as far as it will go… and then hold it there for the entire interview. Sing from your toes… because this may be the only shot you get.
Avoid intense language and extreme positions.
Would you want to work for someone who described former bosses as “horrible,” bounced between “awesome” and “awful” weekend experiences, and thought “every” project you did was either the “best they’d ever seen” or the “biggest pile of garbage you’ve ever produced?” Sounds exhausting, doesn’t it? Sort of like high school all over again? Believe me, it can be exhausting for an interviewer, too. It’s one thing to sing from your toes, but it’s quite another to show the self-control needed to manage that energy and keep it positively focused.
Watch the clock.
How can you make the interviewer’s job easy, demonstrate respectfulness, detail orientation, time management skills, and also show that you are capable of hitting tough deadlines? Watch the clock! When giving answers, give an overview and then get increasingly granular as necessary to support your case. This way, you’ll avoid the pitfall of getting lost in a story only to find you don’t have sufficient time to tie together all those loose ends you’ve created.
“Yes, and…”
The greatest thing I learned while taking classes at The Second City was the very first thing they taught: “Yes, and…” In improv, you keep scenes alive by accepting whatever you are given and then adding to it or amplifying it. There is no space on stage for “No…” “I’m sorry, you’re mistaken,” or “Yes, but…” because those transitions kill energy, set up interpersonal conflict, engage the ego in a defensive posture, and stymie forward progress. Apply the principle of “yes, and…” in an interview to demonstrate an effective approach to conflict management, as well as a willingness to work with—rather than against—authority.
Treat everyone with respect.
Your interview for a position begins the minute first contact is made and never really ends. (That sentence is worth reading a second time—there is a profound implication in there about the constancy of judgment.) You should be aware that executives are generally savvy enough not to trust the façade others put on display for them, and they will often look to administrative assistants and other staff for guidance about what individuals are “really” like. I have seen more than one candidate sunk because his kiss-up, kick-down style was exposed by a receptionist, administrator, or other staffer.
There you have them: 10 key success factors that differentiate executive job “candidates” from executive job “getters.” One of the things that should stand out is that actions speak louder than words in an interview—a skilled assessor much prefers to see behaviors on display rather than hear you talk about it. (Anyone can learn to talk a big game.) A second thing that should be apparent from this list is that soft skills—the things that indicate an ability to move beyond doing and into leading—become much more important at the executive level. These skills are in addition to a mastery of the industry, company, and product/service. (Yes, it’s a lot. I know. If you had only been born a little earlier, you would have had it so much easier… and that’s all the time we have today for commiserating.)
Good luck!
