How should you prepare for a senior-level interview?
Preparation at the senior level means arriving with a point of view. Research the organisation's assets, market and pressures; prepare six evidence-based examples covering scope, conflict and failure; and be ready to describe what you would examine in your first ninety days.
For candidates
Know the business, not just the posting
- What the organisation owns, operates or sells, and where it is growing.
- Who the leadership team is and how long they have been in place.
- What is publicly pressuring the business — vacancy, cost, regulation, competition.
- How this role connects to the pressure they are trying to relieve.
Build six examples before you build answers
Most senior interview questions are variations on the same six situations: a result you produced, a conflict you resolved, a decision you got wrong, a team you rebuilt, a stakeholder you managed upward, and a problem you inherited. Have each one ready with scope, action and outcome.
Prepare a first-ninety-days view
Not a plan for a job you do not have yet — a view. What you would examine, in what order, and what you would want answered in week one. It is the single most differentiating thing a senior candidate brings into a room.
Your questions are part of the assessment
- What does success look like in the first year, and who judges it?
- What has made this role difficult to fill or difficult to hold?
- How are decisions made between this role and the executive team?
- What is the one thing you would most want changed in six months?