Loading...
Answers
MenuSenior job interview.
What are the most important points employers discuss when interviewing a new employee for a senior management job? I am in the transition stage, moving from a management position handling operations, sales, procurement, projects, etc, to top senior management. Any suggestions on how to prepare for interviews?
Answers
From an HR professional perspective I’d want you to have several examples to help me see how you dealt with change, financial constraint, department conflict. You know those behavioural questions everyone hates? Here is how to prepare. Recall several complex situations that may cover several questions - something difficult that involves multiple stakeholders can often be used for different questions.
To prepare think STAR - Situation, Tasks, Action and Result. You can do this thinking ahead of your interview. Then it will flow far easier.
At senior levels the fit they are looking for usually has a lot to do with your leadership style, how you manage relationships across the org, how you make tough decisions. Your stories are the best indicator of future behaviour. Also HOW you operated under stress tells the interviewer a lot about your style and whether you will fit the culture.
Some good questions you may want to ask is all about the culture, current morale, change environment, company values. Remember you want to interview them as much as they interview you!
Lastly, candidly ask the interviewer about themself and their greatest memory for working there.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you need more?
The single most important thing is this: Being able to tell your story in a coherent narrative.
Everyone (including the recruiter or hiring manager) finds it easier to listen to a story, understand and remember it.
So think of your career as an adventure, with a beginning (tell your long term vision, desires, goals etc), challenges and problems to be overcome, how you overcame them, what you have learned and what new goals you've set. Most importantly, clearly direct the listeners attention to the skills you have gained and your most important qualities such as leadership, problem solving, prioritization, dealing with complex problems, time management etc.. Pick these in advance, having studied what the job requires.
Agreed on having prepared your example stories beforehand and rehearsed telling them a couple times.
Make sure these are referred to on your resume as bullet point examples underneath main points, so you don't have to remember them and can easily refer to your documentation to prompt what to say.
This is how you Stand Out, which is a critical factor in selling (and you are in a sales process in the interview whether you want to be or not.)
Related Questions
-
How I can find a profitable niche for my consulting business?
Hi, Great question to post. I've been in your situation a number of times so understand where you are coming from. Both from startup's i've had through to working on Go To Market strategies in large businesses. The first place i would look to is defining geographically where i wish to cover e.g a local area or national or do i wish to span several countries? Next, look at the new business "birth" rate and "death" rate within that region. This will give you an idea of a high level gross add's and net businesses you could work with assuming you wish to be helping them in their "early life startup phase". Depending on how specific your new product is, you should look to segment further. However I am a big fan of looking at my customers or potential customers based on how they behave and "Buy" - too often we get focused on how to "sell" to new customers but not understand the former. Also, think about this. Are they motivated to participate in your coaching program, or are you looking for people that require motivation to make their business successful, in turn they are looking for coaching? Again this will then help you to further drill down into "who" the clients are and "Why" they buy. It will also define where you should be networking etc or finding new business. Happy to talk further over Skype or Google Hangouts if you wish to. I'm based in New Zealand, currently working for a global SaaS provider. NZ is +12 GMT. Cheers GuyGA
-
We (2) just started up a digital agency. What is the best way to answer: "How big or how many employees does your agency have?"
Answer with the truth. And perhaps follow their question up with a question such as "Why do you ask?" This serves 2 key purposes: 1. It helps you get to the root of what they are looking for / need / want. And regardless of whether you get that particular client's business or not - you gain valuable insight into the mind of your market. 2. It positions you as the adviser... Asking "why" helps you get more clarity so that you can make sure you are the best fit for them. In fact - their answer might prompt YOU to say "I'm sorry - it sounds like we might not be a good fit for you." By willing to walk away you show poise, confidence, and professionalism. For more tips and assistance with growing your agency - give me a call. Best of luck!DB
-
How can I bill effectively for Business Consulting?
I've been a consultant, both independently and through two of the "Big 5" consulting firms, for the majority of my career. I've recently discovered that I have a serious aversion to time-based billing, that's been buried deep down in my subconscious for a while. Because of this discovery, I've been trying hard to break the direct bond between hours worked and income generated. The concept of value-based billing can be very appealing in this regard. The co-founder and CEO of FreshBooks, Mike McDerment, wrote a pretty interesting and entertaining eBook on the subject, called Breaking the Time Barrier - http://www.freshbooks.com/breaking-the-time-barrier It's worth a quick read, if for no other reason than to experience a different way of thinking when it comes to billing for services. Here are some of the stumbling blocks I've experienced, when trying to put value-based billing into practice - 1 - Finding the clients who are willing to take the time to hear you out on the approach 2 - Finding the clients who can appreciate the approach, however if you get through #1, #2 seems to be a bit easier, since their minds are already open enough to consider it 3 - Waiting out the time it takes to find and educate the "right" clients, as Mike describes them in the book, when you have bills to pay :) I do feel that value-based billing makes a lot of sense for both the client and the service provider. One thing that value-based billing does well is resolve the paradox between the client's goal of having a project delivered at a reasonable price and the service provider's goal of generating revenue, which, by nature, are somewhat at odds from the outset, since the client usually wants to pay for the fewest # of hours possible (whether they admit that or not, that's another story), while the service provider wants to put the time in it takes to get the job done right.CR
-
What are the factors to consider when launching two to three startup projects/products under one corporation?
It's best to keep everything in a single company to start with. Before going further with my answer, I'm compelled to tell you that launching multiple products *rarely* works and unless you have very significant prior success, most investors will take interpret diversification as a very negative signal. So just wanted to provide you that warning. You should do nothing in the early stage to your corporate structure to optimize to sell or spinoff what the Company develops. The reason for this is that it incurs legal expense prematurely and often limits your choices instead of facilitating the desired optionality. Investors almost always want "the whole hog" and also want to back a whole team focused on making a single product or service as big as it can get. Let an investor or buyer drive a spin out discussion, not the other way around. Happy to talk in more detail in a call.TW
-
What is the best ERP system or any other system for managing a business?
OpenERP and Zoho are both fragmented modular systems that can be very confusing. Without knowing your industry and complete set of needs, have you considered NetSuite, Sage, MS Dynamics, Aptean or Epicor? Aside from feature sets, implementation and ongoing support and training are critical elements to consider. The other big challenge is getting buy-in from the users. Have you considered starting with an open source or semi-custom, previously developed product and having it customized to your needs? If you would like more information, let's have a phone call so I can better understanding your specific needs and point you in the right direction. Best regards, Kevin McCarthy www.KevinMcCarthy.comKM
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.