8/14/2019 Should CEO Interview

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As CEO the final call is to be made on selecting asenior resource.IF you are one of the

lucky CEOs in large corporation then you have the support of head hunters, other senior 

managerrs to help in decision making. iam writing this piece for those CEOs who havethe task of running SMEs.

MY writing is based on my own close observations while mentoring CEOs .

Years back we had faced situation of losing every candidate after the final interview withCEO whom i was mentoring. we were both concerned as to why this is happening.To

give full credit the CEO was pretty open to figure out the reason.we decided that i shall

 be silent observer when he interviews next time.At the end of this experiment here is what we found out.I had to tell the cEO as no one

else wil tell- that he was just spoiling the show.and suggested that he should not interview

candidates, rather he should do such agood job of selling the company and the job.we did

set up a goal that then onwards his performance will be measured as "excellent" only if the candidate comes out of the interview and asks the question as to when can he

 join.sounds good?

read on

13. opening your interview with the traditional question “tell me about yourself ”.is

the worst strategy. If you are the third or fourth interviewer this is the moststupid opening you can ever have. the candidate is fedup already ,by facing this

many times in your company.Never do that

14. If your HR staff or any retained agency has sent the candidate to you, start the

interview with the opening remarks as follows- so our HR person told you a aboutthe company and the job. If you have any more question on that i can help. Or 

even ask what the HR told him about the company. it helps in two ways. it helps

to find how well the HR did do the job to brand and how muchmiscommunication happened; You can refine your HR’s script to candidates

when they make first contact. next questions may be : Hope you visited our website. Do you have any further question about our company.15. Now watch for the response. Most candidates say that they did not get any time or 

they did not visit the site. This is first negative. Especially if you are hiring a

senior person it is legitimate that you expect him to do research about thecompany . After all,if it is just another job he is looking for he is not worth

hiring.

16. if the candidate has atleast looked at the site or had done some home work he

maybe able to say what business you are in , where all you operate and how heloves to be part of your venture etc. that is the first big plus

17. Such candidate must be encouraged to askfor more information from you. The

advantage is that you sell your company then the job . here is an opporunity to present the vision, plans growth strategy etc

18. Next line of questioning must be to check the knowledge and application of 

knowledge. Ask him about his core subject expertise.. Generally candidates donot expect this question. For example whenever I asked this question to senior 

candidates they end up saying they lost touch with subjects long ago. I do then

 prompt them to get into discussion about latest book on management...

19. Recently I asked a candidate for HR manager’s job this question and some how

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 brought him around the topic of HR tools like HR score card, FIRO B, MBTI c.

 psychometric tests, personality tests etc; to my surprise he had not even heard of 

any of these . He had over 10 years in HR.20. It is always useful to ask about any new idea that the candidate experimented

with.. This question generally can help in finding how much knowledge the

 person has and brings to the table. He who has not tried any of the concepts isnot worth the salt

21. One question that will invariably must be asked is “how much and what value he

can add to your organisation. This will test not only the self confidence but theorganisational alignment capability

22. always test the business understanding of the candidate by asking question about

latest trends, sources of research data that he relies on etc .if the person does not

mention Gartner or Gallop or similar sources he is just not in tune with the time23. Ask which of the previous jobs the dream one was. Check if the candidate comes

out strongly in favour of atleast one previous assignment. We never forget our 

dream assignments. Anyone who did not have a dream assignment in the past

cannot be expected to make this as his dream job .the chances are less. Atleast youcan check back what or which job or company he enjoyed working with

24. Ask what success means to the candidate- I have seen this question makescandidates to think. Name fame money what else? If the candidate just says that

success means delivering far and beyond what is expected he is one sure guy who

will win .he surely ahs Think Win/WIN paradigm

25. Use a tool- I had extensively used Thomas profiling for all senior hires. Get theHR person trained in Thomas profiling. Get the report to help you arrive at proper 

decision.

26. Look for 4Es- The 4 E's of Leadership 

Energy - Individuals with energy love to "go, go, go." These people possess

 boundless energy and get up every day ready to attack the job at hand. Highenergy people move at 95 miles-per-hour in a 55 mile-per-hour world.

Energizers - know how to spark others to perform. They outline a vision and

get people to carry it out. Energizers know how to get people excited about acause or a crusade. They are selfless in giving others the credit when things go

right, but quick to accept responsibility when things go awry.

Edge - Those with edge are competitive types. They know how to make the

really difficult decisions, such as hiring, firing and promoting, never allowing

the degree of difficulty to stand in their way.

Execute - The key to the entire model. Without measurable results, the other "E's" are of little use. Executers recognize that activity and productivity are not

the same and are capable of converting energy and edge into action and results.

Welch took 20 years to develop this model, 1, you can benefit from all the effort

and re-working that went into getting to this all encompassing set of characteristics.