Congratulations you have made it through the prescreen, and perhaps even the exhaustive pre-screening profile. You may have met many members of the leadership team as well as your team of directs and even board members. Now you are a finalist!
Marcia Ballinger in her newly released book Winning the Executive Interview offers solid counsel on how to approach this very moment.
Now you may be thinking, “I know, I know, I’ve been down this road before and I’ve even sat on the other side of the table”. Entering the room as a finalist playing that mental script is a sure fire way of securing the runner-up position, congratulations.
So what is the mindset for approaching that final conversation with your hopefully soon to be a new employer? Notice how I didn’t say what answers should you have memorized from the book 101 interview questions.
Before you verbalize a single word here are some tips for the internal script inside your head.
- “I am here to listen.” Listen to their questions completely. Listen for their pain points. Listen to their story about the organization, it’s future and it’s challenges.
- “I am here to inform.” Informing is knowing how to articulate your comparable experiences without bragging. Yes results are important as it qualifies and quantifies your experiences, but learning how to do so in a way that is informative. Informing is also about owning up to gaps and short comings.
- “I am here to connect.” Connecting is not just about connecting your experience to the job it is about connecting on a relational level with the leadership team, the decision maker and the board. Finding points of congruence will be the key to fostering chemistry. Those that become finalists are the ones that fit best with the team and the organization.
Good luck Winning the Executive Interview.