First executive interview

July 9, 2018 11:45 AM

I've applied for a Vice President position at my company and made it past the initial screening. What do I do now?

The position is for a Vice President of IT. It's a job for which I'm 80% qualified for with the exception of managing large teams. Right now I'm a senior staff member, meaning I do the "hands on" work in the department. I'm expecting a rigorous interview process and I want to make sure I make the best possible impression. There's both a formal technical interview and an "hr manager/ leadership" interview. If you've been involved in interviewing at this level, what kinds of points should I hit for the leadership questions? What did your interview look like?

posted by boo_radley to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Try to understand what they're looking for in a leader position. Are they looking for a visionary to change the organization, a promoter to remind other departments of what IT can do, a focused manager to get a squirrelly team back in line? Then focus on your past work to achieve these sorts of goals.

Also, who are you interviewing with? Do they know much or care about the unit's details and sub-functions, or are they looking more at whether you'll fit in with the other high level leaders of the company? You can generally ask who will be on the interview panel to get an idea of this side of things. The other part should come from your own experience with the company, both in the IT department, and as part of the company as a whole.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:37 PM on July 9, 2018 [5 favorites]

Be ready to talk in detail about the things the department did well, and did poorly, under its most recent leadership. Expect to answer the question: "What will you change?" Be prepared to answer the question: "Who will you fire, and who will you promote?" (The right answer is probably -- "everyone will be under review; there are certainly one or two people I may put on a performance improvement plan".) Also similarly be prepared to sketch out a budget with a 20% cut in costs or a 20% increase in duties.

Be ready for lifestyle questions -- where you live, whether you golf, enjoy wine, play poker, travel, what schools your kids are in, what your spouse does, etc. -- these are things executives can care quite a bit about in a (potentially) fellow executive when they would have zero interest in them regarding a senior hands-on IT person.

Find out more about the technical interview. Who is administering it? An outside consultant? Somebody with IT chops from a line unit?
posted by MattD at 1:36 PM on July 9, 2018

Response by poster: Our interview process is big -- I'll be interviewing with HR, the CIO, the CIO's boss, some of the team leaders. the executive interviews will probably be an hour, with HR and team being longer.
posted by boo_radley at 2:05 PM on July 9, 2018

The CIO, who I assume would be your direct boss, will ask you some technical questions but these will probably be a bit off the wall. (S)he knows what you do in your current job (or will have found it out from your current manager), but may ask you about more esoteric things that (s)he may be thinking about. Be honest about what you know, indicate a willingness to study up as needed, and also be honest about what you think of his/her ideas without trashing any idea even if you want to.

The CIO's boss will be interested in how you'll fit in with the future of the company. (S)he may also ask you about your managerial philosophy and knowledge, since you aren't currently a manager and any problems you create in that realm may eventually have to be dealt with at his/her level. Any information you have about the culture and/or management style the company is moving towards would allow you to present your ideas about management as being consistent with where things are headed. In this type of interview, they're looking to get a read on character-related issues. Or he/she may just try to enlist you in an extended discussion of sailing or whatever hobby you might have in common. It can be really hard to predict what they'll do in interviews because (mostly) they're ignorant about the right way to do an interview and reluctant to admit that to anyone that might actually help them do a better job at it.

Depending on the sophistication of your HR department, these interviews can range all over the map. They may focus on ensuring your experience checks the appropriate boxes for technical knowledge, which is more of a screening interview type thing. More likely, they'll focus on the competencies that have been identified for the job. You can learn what those are from the position listing, although you'll probably have to read between the lines a bit. To prepare, think about specific experiences you've had that would demonstrate your skill in each of those competency areas. The examples you use can be from your current job or any previous job. Even high school or college experiences will work, but you're better off sticking to more recent employment experiences. And make sure you can easily and accurately refer to the details of things in your resume. Don't be that person who's fuzzy about the details of what you've done. Or, if the HR folks are really savvy, they'll do the character-related interview the CIO's boss should be doing.

Good luck!
posted by DrGail at 2:38 PM on July 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: That's really helpful! I appreciate the reference questions about leadership and management style. I have some answers for them, but this will help me add some depth to them.
posted by boo_radley at 4:19 PM on July 9, 2018