Sailing Through Senior-Level Interviews

Sailing Through Senior-Level Interviews

A candidate for a mid-level executive position visits the organisation a couple of times before the job is finally offered. The interview focuses on his skills and abilities. Hiring decisions are primarily based on past performance.

When screening candidates for top-level jobs, the interview protocol changes. The atmosphere is friendlier and the candidate socialises extensively with the senior executives. Under this congenial façade is the fact that candidates are being assessed for their potential compatibility with the job, cultural fit and their ability to represent the organisation in public. Hiring managers focus on what the candidate can do for the organisation and his ability to support organisational goals. As Terry Harlow, a corporate vice-president says, “They’re looking for a person who can create and communicate the vision for the organisation.”

Skip Fiordalis conducts senior level searches for various organisations. He ensures that the candidates are ‘good fits’ especially with the administrative management team. Skip attributes his selection success to his interviewing skills. He tests the candidate’s flexibility in dealing with a new environment, pragmatism in approaching problems and excellence in managing various relationships. With so much at stake it is imperative that candidates master senior-level interviews.

The set-up

The initial interview for top level posts usually spans a couple of days. The candidate meets other senior employees in groups and could be invited to dinner. Subsequently, the invitation may extend to his spouse. Some organisations headquartered in other states/countries fly the candidates to tour the area and meet would-be colleagues. Often such meetings are breakfast to dinner affairs involving lengthy negotiations over salaries and perks.

Interviewing candidates is a stressful job-full of interactions with a large number of people and involves extensive travel. An exhausted interviewer has little patience with an ill-prepared candidate. For instance, just as the interview began one candidate forced his resume and recommendation letters onto the interviewer. A rookie mistake! “People who begin the interview with a resume, portfolio, deal sheets or financial statements don’t understand that the interview is already over,” says Andrea Eisenberg, a consultant in a placement firm.

Interviewees

An organisation has high expectations from interviewees appearing for senior posts. Janet Jones-Parker, managing director of a recruiting firm insists that interviewees should exude confidence. Janet advices, “You (interviewee) have to go to an interview as though you’re already there. Everything you do must speak of that. If you act as though you’re stepping up, that’s how you’re perceived.” Dave Opton, CEO of ExecuNet Inc., selects interviewees who carry themselves as leaders.

An interviewee can gain confidence with some basic research into the organisation both, cultural and financial. It also helps to learn more about the other employees, traditions, organisational values and defining historical moments.

Fitting in

“As part of every senior-level interview there’s a high level of social interaction.” The way a candidate speaks, writes thank-you notes, even his spouse’s behaviour all are important. Poor etiquette is the biggest stumbling block. A Philadelphia recruiting firm bought books and videos to educate an interviewee on good table manners! As senior-level executives socialise at high-levels they need impeccable social skills.

A post interview meal with the hiring officials shouldn’t be misconstrued as a confirmation dinner! Dave Opton knows of interviewees who light up cigars after dinner without seeking permission. One such interviewee was rejected after he blew smoke into the eyes of the CEO’s wife!

The better half

Surprisingly, a candidate’s spouse affects hiring decisions. ‘Spouses should seem eager, excited, flexible and positive.’ Quite often candidates need to relocate. The candidate’s spouse should view any career move as a family investment. This should be reflected in conversations with other employees. Spouses need to be cautious. Any negative comments could mar job negotiations.

What is the interviewer looking for?

Interviewees who anticipate the job requirements instantly figure out changes necessary to accomplish a task. An interviewer discovers such an interviewee by asking ‘fact-finding’ questions.

A great way to start a senior-level interview is to ask the single best question: “Can you describe your most significant accomplishment?” The interviewer gains insights into the individual’s accomplishments and how they relate to specific job needs.

Another question that reveals an interviewee’s problem solving abilities, leadership qualities, intelligence and vision is: “If you were to get this job how would you go about solving this (major/typical) problem? “How would you” questions focus on the planning and visualisation aspects. Lack of either skill can disqualify an interviewee.

Think before you speak!

To gauge an interviewee’s problem solving abilities, organisations often show them negative financial information. Organisations expect them to use their leadership skills to wriggle out of complex situations rather than bank on experience and background. Buster Houchins, managing director of an executive search company says, “It’s all about getting people excited about a vision that’s bigger than your own personal goal or vision.”

Organisations typically hire candidates willing to take calculated risks. Hence, the interviewee should freely express his views when asked to comment, even if they are contrary to the interviewer’s viewpoint. He should evaluate the consequences of his remarks. Patronising comments and critical remarks are taboo.

More questions

The interviewer should allow interviewees to ask questions too. In an interview for the position of a vice president Ms.Kenny asked her employers questions that gave insights into the organisation’s strategies. The question, “What’s important to you?” helped her to determine if her perception matched the organisation’s and whether she could support it. Jean-Claude Noel, COO of Christie’s too believes that interviewees should ask a lot of questions.

Channel ‘ WE’

An interviewee did well but on his way to the airport in the company car yelled at his subordinate on the cell phone. The driver promptly reported the interviewee’s attitude to the higher-ups. Needless to say, he wasn’t selected.

Interviewees aspiring to make it to the top echelons should adopt the ‘we’ attitude. They should consider themselves part of a team and be unbiased. Those who lack humility don’t make it to the higher ranks. As Ms. Eisenberg says, “It’s dangerous to assume that the person you’re meeting with matters a lot and others don’t matter. That’s the landmine. Be certain to engage every person at his or her level.”

On guard!

Interviewees naturally feel comfortable with hiring officials after dining and spending time with them. But as Paul Villella, CEO of an executive hiring firm warns, “You have to be most cautious with the most casual, you don’t want to treat them as though you have known them for years.” The interviewee should learn how to manage his relationships.

The computer savvy era encourages informality; most techies are used to ‘winging in’ and come ill prepared for interviews. However, it is important to be conservative and professional in dress and style, during an interview. One CEO recommends making bullet point notes for the interview.

Cultural changes

With recruitment going global, senior level executives are required to travel, and at times relocate to different countries. Hence, the interviewee should have the ability to adapt to different cultures. For instance, German companies are more formal than American companies. Interviewees would have to address people as Mr., Ms. or Mrs., and never by a first name. “Ability to adapt makes a good leader.”

‘Interviewee’ skills are critical for a smooth and successful transition into the higher slots. An interview is a ticket to the job!

Ref: Manage Mentor

Why This Recession Has Been So Tough on Recruiters

Why This Recession Has Been So Tough on Recruiters?

by: Kevin Wheeler

This recession has been merciless to recruiters. I don’t have any statistics, but anecdotal evidence indicates that thousands of recruiters have been laid off and that hundreds of recruiting agencies have closed their doors.

Sometimes the recruiters who been laid off have just been unlucky enough to have worked for an organization that is failing or in an industry that has been strongly affected by the recession. Yet, others have been laid off partly because of performance or attitude. Many recruiters remain tactical, and fail to grasp how strategic their function is to a firm. Many have remained working for leaders and organizations that do not appreciate how much they could contribute to the success of the business. And even fewer have become leaders who take command of the recruiting process and forge a function that competes effectively against other organizations and consistently supplies their organization with quality talent without relying on the use of extraordinary measures.

In my many years in the profession I have only known a handful of these people. Most corporate recruiters become recruiters by accident and leave the profession for some other HR or related field after a short stay. Their stay is a roller coaster of half-completed technology implementations, high staff turnover, muddled objectives, and often leaves a legacy of unhappy hiring managers. To achieve even the simplest objectives, they have to use outside resources, employ a large number of recruiters, or seek to outsource the function.

Unfortunately HR has not positioned the recruitment function as strategic, nor has HR realized that the role of talent manager, aka recruiting and development leader, is emerging as one of the most potentially needed (and influential) professions within the organization.

Generally, those recruiters who lead the effort to supply scarce talent are filled with bad habits and uncertainty that create a revolving door of leadership and produce lackluster results.

To change this and move toward a position of respect and strategic leverage, recruiting leaders should examine their own behaviors and thoughts and see if they reflect any of the habits I list below. If so, now is the time to change.

Bad habit 1: Arrogance about yesterday’s tools and techniques

Yesterday’s successes probably will not be repeated by using the same techniques or technologies. Over-reliance on techniques like cold calling, telephone screening, and resume reviewing are examples of methods that have seen their heyday but are still widely championed and loved. I frequently talk with recruiters who swear that the old ways are the only ways — the best ways — and insist that everything from interactive websites to LinkedIn are just fads.

Tomorrow belongs to recruiters who embrace such emerging practices as social networking, video interviewing, online assessment, and candidate relationship management. Recruiters experimenting with virtual communities and with building online relationships already have a advantage over the recruiter who is tied to geography and to face-to-face meetings. Labor markets are not confined to single countries, work can increasingly be done anywhere, and recruiting is a virtual, global game.

Bad habit 2: Filling requisitions instead of meeting business objectives

Most recruiters are obsessed with filling slots. That is what they have been taught to do without regard to need or effectiveness. They have a hard time discussing the value of positions with hiring managers who often regard the recruiter as little more than a clerk trusted to filter piles of resumes that are supposed to magically be arriving each day because of the organization’s prominence or brand. They are given requisition to fill and they dutifully go forth and do so — even if it is a poorly defined job or one that might be done by someone with a different skill set.

Recruiters who have the respect of the organization’s leadership have to be brave enough and well-enough informed about current issues and business needs to engage in meaningful conversation with a hiring manager. They have to be equipped with knowledge about the organization’s strategic business objectives, the needs of the hiring manager, and the state of the talent marketplace. They need to present numbers and data and make a case for hiring the competencies and skills that will be most effective in meeting the business needs of the organization.

In short, they need to act as a resource and consultant to hiring authorities and show a deep knowledge and understanding of the needs of the business. And, on top of this, they then need to be able to fill the position from a talent community they have built in anticipation of the need.

Bad habit 3: Failing to build new competencies

The emerging competencies for recruiters include the ability to engage people in conversation using virtual tools, the ability to collaborate virtually on projects, to influence hiring managers, and build targeted marketing strategies. These are totally different skills from those that dominated the profession a decade ago. In fact, over 80% of the skills that made a recruiter successful in 1997 are of little value today. For example, interviewing skills, cold calling, and reviewing and screening resumes are not critical skills. Even less understandable are the recruiters who are competent at interviewing and who then focus on getting even better at it instead of on developing skills that might be more useful. It is very easy to rely on the competencies that made us successful and not notice that times change as do the skills we need. Far more important are the ability to write a blog, influence a candidate, and identify the value proposition of an offer.

Bad habit 4: Functional Shortsightedness

More and more of the most strategic recruiters I run into have a background in disciplines such as marketing, sales, and operations. Fewer are coming out of traditional HR disciplines. And an elite handful is morphing into talent managers — people who can understand and integrate recruiting with employee development, competency analysis, performance management, and succession planning. These recruiters are not afraid to try out new approaches, nor are they afraid to experiment and leverage technology. The most innovative websites and process improvements are emerging from recruiting leaders who have no training as recruiters and who have recently entered the field. They are writing exciting blogs, using search engine optimization techniques, and experimenting with interactive websites and tools.

The recession may be tough on recruiters, but it is also forging a new breed of talent expert. Recruiting inside organizations is evolving into talent management and the focus will be on ensuring that the organization has the critical talent it needs to achieve business goals. The talent manager will need to be able to run scenarios, produce numbers, and show where the best talent comes from whether it is developed internally, hired from inside or brought in from outside.

Out of every recession have come new ideas, new functions, and exciting change. Recruiting is at the forefront of many of the changes and for a small number of you it will be an invigorating time of learning new skills and adopting new techniques, habits, and technologies.

About the Author:

Kevin Wheeler,the President and Founder of Global Learning Resources, Inc., is a globally-known speaker, author, columnist, and consultant in human capital acquisition and development. His extensive career, global client base, and research affiliations make GLR a leading provider of both strategy and process. GLR focuses on assisting firms architect human capital strategies. GLR guides firms thorough comprehensive talent acquisition processes and procedures as well as the development of talent within organizations of all sizes.