Job interview with executives

This group of executives has different expectations of an interview

Job interview with executives

I recently worked with a candidate who was having difficulty landing a job. This candidate consistently landed multiple interviews with the same company. He wasn’t able to move forward to the offer stage.

I see this regularly. When I meet this candidate, they are frustrated with the job hunt and the interview process. Frustration leads to a vicious circle. The candidate finds themselves emotionally invested in a position. Then their heart is broken when they are declined. This, of course, makes it tough to get mentally geared up for the next opportunity. I understand this. The candidate has done their due diligence on the company, position, and the hiring manager. After a couple of interviews, is starting to feel confident about the position and looking forward to a new opportunity.

Confidence is high

Confidence runs high when we make it through an interview loop that includes everyone, including the VP of the department. Unfortunately, that last interview with the executive is what does the candidate in and stops the hiring process.    

For me, it is a common problem. The diagnosis? It is usually the communication style. The candidate has a few years of interview experience under their belt and consequently notched a few jobs as well. Now that our candidate has a few years of experience, he isn’t interviewing for entry-level positions with team members and middle managers.

Because our candidate has a few years of experience, the positions applied for are more senior positions vs. entry-level. At this level, Directors and VPs of the department are brought in. These senior managers and executives have different expectations of a candidate.  

It’s a different interview

The bar for interview performance was just raised. Interview techniques that worked with ICs and hiring managers for entry-level positions are no longer enough to land senior positions. These positions require a few years of experience and hold a higher barrier to entry. The questions that team members and execs ask candidates may be the same. The expectations for the answers differ greatly. This makes sense. The executives didn’t rise to where they are because they have the same experience or standards as the rest of the department. Answers that worked for an entry-level position just don’t cut it at this next level.  Make no mistake, job interviews with executives are different.

Not all execs are created equal

Yes, we can occasionally interview with an executive who understands the dynamic. They will literally lower their expectations for a entry-level candidate vs. a director. But if you are at the director level and interviewing with an exec, we need to change our game.   

Before I proposed my theory to our frustrated candidate, I asked a few interview questions to hear his answers. Sure enough, it was obvious that the interview answers I heard would move our candidate past a gatekeeper and probably a few team members, but not past a job interview with executives.

Most individual contributors want to become managers, most managers want to become directors, and most directors want to become VPs. So what separates each level?

The difference between IC and Execs

Generally speaking, individual contributors are given direction from a manager and asked to complete a task. At this point in someone’s career, the percentage of task thinking versus strategic thinking is probably 90% task and 10% strategic. At the executive level, the thinking is more like 5% task and 95% strategic. The executive will NOT be involved in the day-to-day of a project. The executive worries about WHAT needs to be done vs. HOW it will be accomplished. This makes sense – with less experience, the individual contributor needs more direction. With more experience, the executive isn’t trying to figure out what to get done by 5:00 PM, but what needs to get done 6 months to 1 year out. Depending on the company’s size, the strategy managers and executives are working on could be what will happen 5 years out.

Why Communication Matters in a job interview with executives

If an individual contributor wants to take their career to the next level, they need to possess intellectual horsepower, be a team player, a leader, and blah-blah. Of course, you need to show some strategic thinking potential as well. These qualities are very important, but a lot of these qualities are going to be proven and conveyed via your communication style. If you cannot convey your ideas, move your teammates on board to new ideas effectively, or push back on ideas in a productive way, it doesn’t matter.

If you are already working in a department, you can grow into a role despite a weakness in any of the above because you have plenty of opportunities to demonstrate your skill set over time.  You grow to the next level over the years. In an interview with a new company, you only have 45 to 50 minutes to prove you are qualified.  In reality, you only have 10 minutes because if you don’t impress the executive in the first 10 minutes, they will probably make up their mind and tune you out. The way you grab the executive is with your communication skills.

Be conscious of the differences

If I try to impress an exec, I must change my communication style. Execs think, act, and talk differently than individual contributors, and my best chance of impressing them is to communicate to them in a way without context switching. It makes it subconsciously easy for them to relate to our answers and ideas.   

Next week, we get into exactly HOW to communicate and interview with an executive. Yes, we do bring examples.

That post is linked here. 

See you at the after party,

HRNasty 

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone who is good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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