Interview Preparation for Executives

Interview questions you MUST consider before you walk in the door

The better you know yourself, your skills, your competencies, your goals, your desires, and your weaknesses the better able you are to sail through the interview process no matter what question is thrown at you.

Here are some key questions that will help you feel prepared and confident for your next interview:

Leadership/Vision

• What’s your vision for the environment you want to create for the team?
• What impact do you believe you can have on this team and/or within (company name) if you were in this role?
• How would you describe your leadership style? (ensure you back this up with demonstrable examples – don’t use clichéd generalisations!)How is this going to serve the team?
• What challenges do you anticipate and how are you going to address these challenges?
• If you could accomplish only 3 things within the first 90 days of stepping into the position what would they be? What would have the most impact?
• What’s the first thing you will do as the new leader of this team? Why?
• How will you know that your team is engaged? Not engaged?

Critical Thinking/Decision Making

• What’s your decision making process? How has this been successful? When has this not been successful and how have you handled it?
• What’s your conflict management style? How have you used this successfully in the past?
• Describe a past critical situation in which you had to make an immediate decision? Give an example of a situation in which you had to make a decision when you didn’t have all facts available. What process do you follow for making decisions for these different circumstances and were you satisfied with the results?
• According to you, what’s the major issue facing this industry today? How do you plan to address this?

The Brand called “You”

• What’s your ‘brand’? What are you selling? Why would they want to buy you?
• If you could only use 3 words to describe yourself what would those 3 words be?
• What sets you apart from your competitors? What is the hook that is going to make them put you to the top of the list?
• How do your values align to the organization? How have you demonstrated this in the past?
• What you learned from your greatest failure?
• What does success look like for you?
• What is something interesting people might not know about you?
• What’s the most meaningful contribution to your current company that you have made to date?
• How well networked are you within (company name)? The industry? With customers? How will you leverage this in the new company?