Tips For Acing an Executive-Level Interview

You must have strong responses, ask your own questions, and cover all of the basics that every job seeker should do to ace an executive-level job interview.

However, this isn’t always sufficient to land executive employment. Employers are searching for concrete instances of past triumphs, a great cultural fit, and more at the higher levels.

How to Ace the Job Interview and Land a Senior-Level Role

1. Be ready to show off specific accomplishments

Talking about particular accomplishments you achieved in previous work is one method to stand out.

“Yes, I’ve managed people previously,” other candidates say. You should say, “Yes, I’ve managed people before. In fact, in my last employment, I oversaw a team of seven salespeople that generated $22 million in revenue last quarter.”

You don’t have to be a salesperson to come up with measurements and particular achievements.

You can discuss the amount of people you supervised or the number of projects you oversaw. You can discuss the amount of work (for example, “I led a team that handled 900 inbound client inquiries per day”).

You can also discuss company-wide or business-level metrics. “I lead the content marketing effort for a website that receives 5,000,000 monthly page views and generates $28,000,000 in revenue yearly,” for example.

Understanding measurements and outcomes will help you stand out while responding to a variety of interview questions. While they ask further questions about your past, you can mention one or two of these details when replying to surface-level queries like “Can you tell me about yourself?” You’ll feel more comfortable delving into more detail when they ask more questions about your past.

2. Make them picture a future with you

Getting them enthused about your experience is only half the battle in an executive interview; you also need to get them excited about what you’d accomplish for them.

While most applicants spend the interview talking about their past, make an effort to talk about the future as well.

Discuss how you might assist them in achieving their goals. Discuss their objectives and priorities, as well as how your skill set fits in. Share your thoughts and suggestions. Demonstrate that you have a vision for what you could achieve in this position.

Talking about the future is a great approach to set yourself apart and get people excited about the prospect of working with you.

3. Make it personal

During your interview, employers aren’t just wondering, “Can this individual do the job?”

They’re looking to see whether you’re enthusiastic, if you’ll fit in with the corporate culture, and if you’re the kind of person they’d love working with every day. At higher levels, this is especially true.

As a result, make sure you’re marketing yourself as a person rather than a professional. Make the dialogue feel as if it’s taking place in real life. Demonstrate enthusiasm for your task. If the work requires leadership, show interest in the position and discuss your leadership style and why you enjoy it.

Learn about the interviewer as well. Make an effort to remember their name and utilise it in conversation.

After the job interview, write thank-you letters to reinforce your interest in the position and express gratitude for the interviewer’s time. Mention anything specific you loved chatting about with that person when you do this. Send individual emails to each person if you meet with numerous persons to ensure a personalised feel.

4. Research the people you’re speaking with

At the upper levels, hiring decisions are frequently based on cultural fit and “chemistry,” thus the more you can bond with the interviewer(s), the better.

That means you should conduct some LinkedIn research to learn more about the interviewer’s background. Examine their educational background, career path, and how they arrived at their current position.

This will provide you with conversation points and aid in the development of rapport throughout the interview.

After seeing their LinkedIn career history, you might think of one or two questions you’d like to ask them about how they progressed inside the company. You’ll stand out from other candidates if you can ask a personalised question that indicates you conducted your homework.

You’ll also be able to anticipate what questions they’ll ask you if you perform your homework. If you’re interviewing for a Chief Information Officer (CIO) position, for example, you’ll be asked different questions by the HR coordinator than you will by the Vice President of Technology. Knowing who you’re speaking with will assist you in properly preparing your responses.

5. Practice storytelling

In an interview, storytelling can help you stand out from the crowd.

It aids the other person in visualising the situation and increases the likelihood that they will remember what you’re saying. So, before your interview, practise explaining previous circumstances and sharing anecdotes that you believe will demonstrate your suitability for the position.

For this, we recommend the S.T.A.R method:

– Situation: Explain the general situation you were in.
– Task: Describe the task that needed to be done.
– Action: Talk about the action or strategy you chose and why.
– Result: Finally, tell the interviewer about the final outcome.

This is a straightforward, effective structure for delivering stories and responding to behavioural interview questions that will keep you on track.

6. Prepare open-ended questions to create a dialogue

Asking questions like, “What does it take to be successful here?” can lead to an in-depth conversation where you can learn about the role, talk about how you’d help the company, and build even more rapport with the interviewer.

Other good questions you can ask:

What does success look like in the first 90 days with this position?
What is something you’re hoping a new person can bring to this role?
What are some of the challenges of working here?

There’s one other tactic you can use to transform the interview into a back-and-forth dialogue, too: End some of your interview answers with a question directed back at them.

For example, imagine they ask, “What were you responsible for in your last role?”

Perhaps you built and led a small team, so you describe that process in your answer. Now here’s the key to this strategy: After giving your response, you can say, “I saw on the job description that this role would involve the chance to build a small team, too. Can you tell me more about that?”

If you approach the interview like this and mix your own questions into the conversation, they’ll start to see you as a colleague and feel more at-ease with you, which will boost your chances of getting the job.

7. Reference past conversations

If a repeat topic comes up in a second- or third-round interview, say something like, “Beth and I discussed this quite a bit in my last interview, too.” “How do you feel about…?”

Referencing previous interactions is a wonderful approach to demonstrate that you’re engaged, interesting, and would be a good match for the team.

Note that you should never use this method to avoid discussing a topic that has already been discussed; instead, use it to add to the conversation and demonstrate that you are willing to work with others.

They’ll regard you as someone who can organise talks and pull knowledge from numerous interactions if you do this, which will be a valuable asset to any business seeking for a leader.

In the end, when employing senior-level personnel, employers look for more than simply previous experience and knowledge. If you use the recommendations above, you’ll be able to stand out from the crowd and get more employment offers.