5 Interview Preparation Suggestions for Impressing a Board Member
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
You are a C suite professional interviewing with a 55-year old member of the Board of Directors of an SMB. Here are 5 interview suggestions for you.
00:00 Introduction
00:29 Showcase leadership
01:00 Experience assembling your team
01:50 Align with the culture
02:22 Ask great questions
03:06 The ability to connect
03:53 Outro
The Two Minute Resume and Interviewing Guide
We’re going to be looking at five suggestions, five interview suggestions, I would give a client interviewing with a board member for a C suite role at an SMB. I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. People hire me for no BS job search advice and coaching globally, because I make the process so much easier.
And as a C suite professional, you’ve got to showcase your leadership. So recognize you’ve got to show strong leadership here. Focus on your strengths like strategic thinking, or the ability to motivate or inspire a team, as well as execution. Be prepared to talk about examples of things that you’ve led, and the impact it’s made upon a previous organization. That should be obvious to you.
Number two is to talk about your experience assembling a team– the way that you identified internal leaders and located and brought on external talent, because the role is going to involve strategy, and improving operational delivery. In hiring someone and bringing someone on board, they want you to be able to talk about how you manage day-to-day activities, processes, systems, as well as, you know, thought strategically and drove strategy into delivery. So it’s, again, it’s not just a tactical role. There’s a human big picture component that you’re going to need to assemble a team around you how to do that.
Third, align with the culture. What is the firm’s culture and values? Highlight how your working style and approach aligns with theirs. Now, I know most people are going to talk about your ability to collaborate, innovate, and build relationships. But remember, that may not be what they’re looking for. They may want a pirate or a renegade, because that’s what works best in their culture. Don’t assume. Find out in advance.
Next thing is about asking great questions. So you might look at questions like, what they think the top three priorities and challenges they see on the horizon are. What did my predecessor do extremely well? Where could they have done better or maybe even disappointed? What metrics are going to be used to track performance? And what improvements do you want to see? Where do you see opportunities for growth and expansion over the next few years?
There’s lots of different things you can ask about and I’m sure some have already surfaced. But be prepared for a different answer, or a different type of answer that you can dig into a little bit deeper.
Last point, I want to make is how important the ability to connect is. After all, there are going to be a lot of people that in theory they could hire who are just as talented as you. But skills–experience is only one thing they look for. Self- confidence, character chemistry, maybe a little bit of charisma, that you can connect with people and inspire them. And they would love to feel inspired by you, your ability to establish rapport in a quality manner is one of the things they’re going to want to sense from you. So showing an interest in them personally and what prompted them to join the board is always a nice question to ask.
So I hope you find this helpful. Good luck on your interview. And if you’d like to speak with me in advance, so you can schedule time with me at my website, TheBigGameHunter.us You can schedule time for a coaching session with me. You can schedule time for Trusted Advisor Services where you can ask me questions, find out about my video courses, books and guides. There’s a lot there.
Lastly, connect with me on Linkedin at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Have a terrific day and be great!
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ careers easier. Those things can involve job search,
hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2600 episodes.
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