Nail It! 10 Essential Interview Tips For C-Level Job Seekers

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When interviewing for jobs, senior executives face unique challenges. Executives call the shots. The buck stops with you. People laugh a little harder at your jokes. You have teams of people at your disposal ready to act on your commands. You are in total control.

Now you’re in an interview. You’re not calling the shots. Nobody thinks you’re funny. Beyond the offer of an obligatory cup of coffee or bottled water, nobody is going to do anything for you. You are in the hot seat. You do not control what happens in the room but you must be IN control. 

For masters of the universe, being IN control can be more difficult than it sounds. When you make the rules, it’s extra hard for you to follow rules, and in a job interview - especially a high-level one - there are rules you should follow. It is to your advantage to shift tactics.

Rule #1: Do not take the position you are in charge. You’re not. The people conducting the interview are in charge — from the admin assistant who brings you that cup of coffee to the Chairman of the Board — and you need to impress them.

Rule #2: Be cognizant of your body language. Your body language tells a story. What does your posture say? Are you sitting back casually or sitting forward in your chair? The former communicates that you are aloof, the latter engaged. Body language reveals how you perceive yourself and your position to those around you.

Rule #3: Confidence – YES. Arrogance – NO. Interviewers can perceive the difference. This isn’t the time to get smug.

Rule #4: Being mindful of the “I” and not the “we”. Give credit to others. You’re a senior executive because of your leadership skills and your achievements are accomplished by leading other people to the promised land. If you come across as a one-person show with lots of, “I did this,” and “I did that,” it may turn interviewers off.     

Rule #5: Have multiple hard copies of your resume to hand out during the interview. This may seem like a rookie mistake, but it happens more frequently than you imagine. Don’t assume the search firm did it for you or the interviewers printed them out.

Rule #6: Dress and act the part. This is a delicate balancing act. You’re a senior executive. Look sharp and polished.

Rule #7: Be prepared and don’t be defensive. It’s a job interview. You’re going to get grilled about how you lead a company and affect change. Your management style is going to be dissected. Your expertise will be questioned. When you’re not used to being professionally assessed you may feel like you’re under attack. You’re not under attack. You should expect to discuss how you do things in a calm, confident, and objective manner.

Rule #8: Remember the other candidates are senior execs as well. There are many other candidates with similar education, experience, and talents as you. You are not going to automatically get a job and if that’s your attitude you have even less of a chance. Your interviewers are looking for the right piece to complete a complex puzzle. Regardless of your qualifications, “the right fit” is an intangible that will most likely be decided in the interview room. 

Rule #9: Treat everybody in the interview process with kindness and respect, from the receptionist to the CEO. Don’t come into somebody else’s office and order people around. Don’t talk down to anyone.

Rule #10: Align with your executive search firm before your interview. Don’t leave anything to chance. In advance, have a candid discussion with your search firm about what they will be responsible for what you will handle. For example, ideally, you shouldn’t be discussing compensation in your interview. Your search firm should initiate and negotiate those terms so you should direct any questions about it to them. However, if you haven’t discussed it with them in advance and they aren’t prepared when the call comes, it reflects poorly on you.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Job Hunting Strategies For C-Level Executives

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There is a misconception that senior executives (CEO, CFO, CIO, COO, etc.) are immune to the challenges and vagaries of a job hunt. The outsider perspective is the top of the top are masters of their universe and slipping into a new role is an effortless, almost automatic process. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only are there fewer opportunities, but when plum jobs become available, they are hyper-competitive in a way foreign to other exempt employees. It’s indeed a different game played on a different field.

If the letter “C” is in your title, it’s often the Board (or owners) who must be convinced you will bring the greatest return on their investment. For example, in a typical search for a CEO or President of a publicly traded company, the Board of Directors is the hiring party, whereas in private companies, private equity firms, or venture capital, it tends to be the owners. Once that executive is in place, he or she is tasked with building their executive and management teams, but the Board (or owners) still play an advisory and approval role.

That said, while Boards and owners ultimately make the hiring decisions, chances are they are often not involved in the mechanics of the search process, as key decision makers tend to jump in at the end when the slate’s been trimmed to two or three prime candidates.

Many, but not all, Fortune 500 companies have dedicated in-house recruiters who specialize in executive searches. Their contact list is full of executives with whom they’ve built professional relationships, but it’s executive search firms that are on speed dial. Smaller and/or private companies that do not have the resources for recruiters with executive search expertise on their payroll (or choose not to employ them) are beholden to these search firms as well.

What exactly is an executive search firm? In short, the executive search firm is the C-suite’s professional matchmaking service, and executive search firms like Korn-Ferry, Robert Half, and Spencer Stuart have the keys to the entrance. Boards, owners, recruiters, and senior executives know these firms and will answer their phone calls when actively engaged in an executive search. Note: You can find Forbes’s list of Top 100 Executive Recruiting Firms (2023) here.

So, what does this mean for the executive looking for a new role? Here are some tips for the C-level job hunter.

• If you’re a senior executive looking for a new position, dipping your toes in the executive recruiting pool is a great first step. Ideally, executives (or future executives!) take care to nurture relationships with multiple executive recruiting firms throughout their careers and not just when they need a new job. Do the research and leg work to become a known top-tier commodity in the hallowed halls of the top firms so that you’re front of mind when a potential role opens up.

• Executive search firms recruit across industries, but individual recruiters specialize in specific areas. For example, if you’re a CIO it’s great to have general relationships with executive recruiting firms, but it’s more beneficial to go a level deeper by ingratiating yourself to the recruiters who specialize in tech. You may be disappointed if you rely on the person answering the phone to transfer your call to the right person if that person has no idea who you are.

• It is easy to be an island when you’re at the top. Your network may shrink as you climb the ladder. The best thing you can do to accelerate relationships with executive recruiting firms is to be found – pay attention to your existing professional network, be an active and helpful connection to others, and help open doors.

• Nurture a positive public presence. Google yourself. What’s out there? How much positive press do you have? Are there any erroneous characterizations you need to counter or attempt to purge? Recruiters and high-level hiring authorities (like a Board of Directors) want their senior executives to be known as thought leaders in their field (and not potential liabilities). Elevate your profile. Do interviews with leading publications. Nudge your way into giving a TED Talk. Cultivate press releases, which can be personal or company-centric. Create online and traditional media content, or even write a book. Speak at a college graduation. Launch a charity. These types of professional endeavors collectively convey your professional brand and may separate you from the pack. On the other hand, if you have a reputation for playing with companies like they’re toys without regard for people’s livelihoods, you may find yourself in a compromising position of your own making. If you inspire the best in people, the best people will want to work for you.

• Don’t forget the basics. Your LinkedIn profile needs to be flawless. It will be put under a microscope. Don’t underestimate the importance of professional groups and colleague referrals. You’re a big dog. If you have professional referrals from other big dogs it helps. Statistically, LinkedIn has a low content creator-to-subscriber ratio. Be one of them.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Resume Fundamentals For Senior Executives

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Executives require a bit of a different approach to building an effective resume than other job seekers. It’s lonely at the top because, in comparison to other jobs, there are far fewer C-suite job opportunities in what could be accurately described as a hyper-competitive environment for those positions.

Like every other job, however, when a company, or board of directors, launches a search for a CEO or some other top executive the first thing they ask for is a resume. Even if you plan to hire a professional to write your resume, an understanding of the essential elements will help you communicate your expectations and enable you to properly evaluate the final draft.

Bear in mind – other candidates for the jobs you’re seeking are often just as impressive as you, also career senior executives with laundry lists of achievements. How you communicate your achievements may be the difference in your job search, so the first thing to understand is an effective executive’s resume tells a story about who you are and what you can contribute to a company.

• What is your superpower? There are many types of executives with many types of specialties, but they all set a vision for an organization and move it toward that vision. Are you an expert in launching new companies? Increasing the value of an existing firm? Can you turn around troubled companies around? Or in guiding stable ones into new areas. It’s important to know what kind of executive are you, and where in the lifecycle of a company you deliver the biggest bang for the buck – this is your through line and should run from the header on down.

• Where do you come from? There are many types of organizations. Privately held. Publicly traded. Venture capital. Private equity. Government. Education. Research. Non-profit. Each is a distinctly different environment with its own relevant ownership structure, investor relations, and compliance requirements, and being able to thrive in one setting doesn’t necessarily mean you will be talented at the other. Setting a strategic vision for a tech start-up is different than taking your successful family business public. Who you are is intertwined with the world where you learned your chops.

• What is the essence of your leadership style? There are many types of leaders. Servant-leaders. Thought leaders. Strategic. Transactional. Transformational. Solution-based. Autocratic. Are you giving TED talks or quietly working behind the scenes? According to Robert Smith, your leadership style is, “your approach to leading and interacting with others,” and “is composed of four key elements: theory, attitude, guiding principles, and behavior.” Just like your identity, your leadership style should be embedded in your work history.

• Can you sell and deliver against your vision? Regardless of your specialty, your type of organization, or your leadership style, when you’re in the C-suite you should be engaged in high-level long-term strategic thinking. That’s what a vision is - but anybody can have a vision. The ability to turn a vision into reality is what separates a manager from a senior executive. For example, let’s say you were hired to be the CEO of a small regional business that wants to move into new markets. Your vision is to create a national footprint through a series of mergers and acquisitions. Your resume should focus on how you set this vision, and then worked through your organization to guide it from concept to reality. Details matter, of course, but an effective C-level leader motivates his crew to achieve, without getting too stuck in the weeds.

• Do you have other credentials that can put you over the top? Just like any other resume, you will list your school(s) and related degrees. In addition, include any type of executive or leadership training, certifications, and relevant professional organizations. Yes, leaning on prestigious school names and program rankings helps.

• Be mindful of your tone. It’s the management team YOU put into place and countless employees that YOU are responsible for guiding to a successful outcome. There is a fine line between what you did and what you were able to get your company to do. Take credit for what you were able to get your company to do, but absolutely share that credit as appropriate. 

•  Use power language and metrics. Active verbs (i.e., orchestrate, direct, vision, pioneer, innovate, etc…) in your resume illustrate the difference between a photo of a bivouacked army and one charging into battle. Use language to affirm your level and experience and back it up with hard numbers of top-line and bottom-line business results you were able to deliver, in addition to the culture and “softer” initiatives you’ve effected.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.