By Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter
When you meet the CEO, they already know you can do the job. What are they looking for in this meeting?
you need allies
I stumbled upon an article that I would like to attribute to TheMuse. TheMuse.com. The article was titled “Here’s the secret to a successful CEO interview.” A great article, full credit to TheMuse. The author of this article is Julia Hearts, co-founder and president of Eventbrite. If you’re not familiar with The Company, it’s an online marketplace for live events.
Her article does speak to her interview style, but based on my experience searching, it’s consistent. Basically, she started out assuming that if she was going to meet with someone, her team would already be qualified, and she was meeting people in what she calls a “founder round.”
They were interviewed by the team and completed assignments related to the skills required for the job. So, they know this guy can do the job. So after the initial introduction, she would start by asking the candidate to tell her his or her story, which is not really meant to be a lengthy autobiography. What she’s looking for is a great summary of their lives and careers, not just because she wants to be amused, but specifically covering the essentials—motivations, intentions, and beliefs. Get a grip on this—motives, intentions, and beliefs.
From here, she moves on to other questions, looking for insights into the person. As she puts it, it’s not just a story, it’s about the unsolicited compliments. What she really wanted to know was how well respondents understood the challenges their companies were trying to solve, the skills needed to solve those challenges, and how they could demonstrate they had those skills.
She also wants to know if the person relates to the importance of the role and has a strong belief in the organization. Generally speaking, if you’re meeting a CEO, meeting them at an investment bank or a large American company, and meeting someone at a small or medium-sized company, he’s the person who was there from the beginning, in this particular case the founder, who has an emotional connection. And, although she doesn’t say it, she’s looking for the same thing from you.
Are you inspired to help this organization achieve its stated goal—its mission to be the best in its field? — or it’s just a job, and understanding that, as the basis behind the questions you’re asked, goes a long way toward being more efficient.
Now, she also ended up talking about giving candidates the opportunity to ask her questions, and as a founder, I know the temptation to ask softball questions. She shared her perspective that she didn’t want to ask questions that could easily be answered on the website.
To her, it gave the impression that they were not adequately prepared. What she likes to hear are questions about some part of the business, and questions that provide context and perspective.
So, again, the preset softball questions don’t require much thought or intelligence. Those who need clarification or a deeper understanding will do so as it relates to the question “would you fit into this organization?” although I generally hate the word “fit” because I don’t trust organizations to know how to interview for fit, and I won’t go into detail. Now, I’ve made videos about this before. I will simply say that from a personality standpoint, caring, intelligence, warmth, honesty, good questions, and the points she makes in this article will go a long way in getting hired.
I lowered the salary I wanted! Can it be fixed?
About big game hunter Jeff Altman
People hire “Big Game Hunter” Jeff Altman to provide no-nonsense job coaching and career advice around the world because he’s great at job hunting And get ahead in your career more easily.
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You need to fix your stupid recruiting practices.
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 job search podcast on iTunes with over 2,900 episodes in over 13 years.
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