What will they ask? Some ideas from executives – part one
October 26th, 2009
What will they ask? Most folks preparing for interviews want to have some idea of the questions an employer will ask. Here are a few from respected executives. What they look for in their senior team will give you a new perspective on the process.
One shift in past years has been to an emphasis on teamwork. In an interview for the Corner Office column in the NY Times, Tim Brown the CEO and President of IDEO a Palo Alto based design firm says his best interview question for candidates is to ask who they’ve done things with. “And if they can very quickly give you lots of examples of what other people did, then you’ve got some hint about how collaborative they are. If, however, the answer is ‘I did this and I did that and I was responsible for that,’ and you get no sense of who they worked with and how they worked with them, I worry. Because then I see somebody who probably isn’t very collaborative, probably isn’t very good at promoting the ideas of others and probably isn’t going to bring talent out very effectively. They may be very inspirational, they may do brilliant work, but they’re probably not going to actually result in a more capable organization, which is what I’m looking for.”
Susan Lyne, chief executive of Gilt Groupe and former editor of Premiere Magazine and head of ABC entertainment feels that a key role for any CEO is recruiting. If you can’t attract talent, you are not going to succeed. In her interviews for a new hire “I try to get someone to talk about how they handle different challenges. So, depending on what the role is, I want to understand what their work style is, and I want to understand how they deal with a crisis, a challenge. Because everyone is going to tell you about what they have accomplished, right? That’s just part of the interview….I want to know what happened when something went badly, and what they would say were the most significant mistakes they’ve made along the way and what they’ve done along the way to correct them: What did you learn from it? How would you do it differently , or what would you say was the best thing you did in that moment of crisis?”
Clarence Otis Jr., CEO of Darden Restaurants wants to see someone who has passion and drive. “Being comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty is a trait I look for, because those folks are pretty comfortable with diversity, and not knowing how people who have differences might react in a situation doesn’t unmoor them. You ask them about the various experiences they have had and try to probe, where were those circumstances where there wasn’t a good direction, when it wasn’t clear how thing would break?”
As you prepare for your next interview, consider the advice of these leaders. Focus on how you have achieved success working with others, think about your mistakes and how you corrected them and consider how you respond when there are no clear directions. Having a few examples to illustrate your experiences just might give you the competitive edge in an interview.