Are you hiring a senior manager or executive candidate for your organization? I ask them different interview questions than I ask during non-senior leader interviews. I am seeking the best candidates who will work well with the senior team and provide guidance and direction to the rest of our employees.
I want to assess how they have performed in prior jobs and find out if they can do our job. Yes, their cultural fit is important but even more important is can the candidate do the job. Secondly, how will the candidate complement the current team? I don’t want a vanilla senior team. Then, determine whether the candidate will fit your culture.
This is an abbreviated checklist about how to hire senior leaders.
Start with a phone screen by Human Resources staff and the hiring manager.
If the candidate makes it through these meetings, schedule phone meetings with two-three additional screeners.
For a first onsite visit, start with two or three interviews with the hiring manager, and two relevant employees.
Only if a candidate makes it successfully through spend more time with additional employees these initial onsite meetings should the candidate. Even with the positive phone screenings, I have been known to escort a candidate out following our initial meeting without allowing the candidate to interview with more employees. When I’ve determined that he’s not our guy, why spend expensive employee time going through the motions?
The chances are good that you will bring the best candidates back for another day of meetings in any case. Save additional interviews until then. The team is for input; they don’t get a vote. The decision is the hiring manager’s made in conjunction with guidance from HR. She is the person who will have to live closest to her decision.
Select your best, most qualified person based on the above-mentioned criteria.
There are many pitfalls that you want to avoid when you hire an employee. But bringing the candidates back for a series of interviews and even to work in your company for a trial time period (for the unemployed) are techniques you can use to hire superior employees.
Feel badly about the time investment for the candidate? Don’t. Last time I spoke with them, Genentech brought candidates back several times for several day interview sessions and, at one point, up to twelve.
Your goal is to maximize the time you have with the candidates and minimize the staff time that you invest when you hire with the help of a team.
You may use variations of these questions as you hire your senior team. These were specifically developed for hiring a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who would be second in command in an organization. So, you will want to customize the questions for your open position.
These questions are designed specifically to assess the skills of the candidate in management, cultural fit, team bu ilding, and mentoring. Additional interviews with technical and financial staff should evaluate the technical skills of your candidates.
Using these questions or a customized version should help you hire a superior senior leader.