Strategic Intelligence for CFOs, Finance Directors, Controllers and Treasurers in Asia  | 
2012, May 24

The Unemployed CFO: How to Ace the Interview

Home > Features > The Unemployed CFO: How to Ace the Interview
Features

The Unemployed CFO: How to Ace the Interview

by Mark Richards, 22 September 2011
topics:
Human Capital Management Professional Development
tags:
in-transition candidate job interview listening skills presentation skills

Have you ever wondered if being in transition (read: unemployed) makes you less attractive in an interview? The answer may be yes, but not for the reasons you may think.

 
Marcia Ballinger from US recruiter KeyStone Search and I were having coffee and we got on the topic of interviewing. She shared some amazing insights into how in-transition candidates effectively derail their chances during the interview.
 
Marcia has submitted many in-transition candidates for her clients’ consideration because they have the right skills and experiences that make them attractive to a client – regardless of their employment status. Also, Marcia’s firm has sat in on interviews as an observer for the past five years, so she has seen both in-transition and employed candidates in action.
 
She has observed a pattern of behavior from the in-transition candidates that she thinks decreased their chances of getting hired because they made themselves an ‘outlier’ compared to other candidates – but in the wrong direction.
 
Caught By the Bear
This is much like that old joke about you and a buddy being chased by a bear. You don’t have to outrun the bear. You just need to be faster than your buddy.
 
When it comes to hiring, the candidate selected is not the best at everything. He or she is simply better than the other candidates, regardless of whether they are in transition or employed.
 
Here are the traits that Marcia has observed in in-transition candidates that are likely to get them get caught by the bear.
 
  • They talk more and listen less
  • They are very quickly convinced that an opportunity is 'perfect' for them, even when they don’t have all the facts.  Marcia said that she frequently has in-transition candidates proclaim that they are ‘perfect’ for a position, even before they have seen a job description
  • They lean forward
  • They don’t always wait for the speaker to finish answering the question
  • They are glib, surface, and less thoughtful
  • They talk faster, as though they are trying to squeeze more in
  • They seek to persuade, not to understand
 
Having gone to interviews myself during my own transition, I admit to being guilty of these behaviors. At the time, I felt I was demonstrating eagerness and interest, but now I see it was my anxious feelings shining through.
 
12next ›last »


Related articles

Comment on this article

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <a> <p> <span> <div> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <img> <img /> <map> <area> <hr> <br> <br /> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <table> <tr> <td> <em> <b> <u> <i> <strong> <font> <del> <ins> <sub> <sup> <quote> <blockquote> <pre> <address> <code> <cite> <embed> <object> <strike> <caption>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Use <!--pagebreak--> to create page breaks.

More information about formatting options

Verification Code
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Accounting and Regulations

CFO innovation Asia Accounting and Regulation the Asia Pacific resource center for senior finance executives, daily news, analysis, best practice and case studies in Accounting Regulation, IFRS, US GAAP, Tax, investor relations, corporate governance, Corporate Law, Financial Regulators, Internal Audit, Audit, Corporate Law.
Auditing, Investor Relations, Law and Compliance, Tax

Finance and Banking

CFO innovation Asia, Finance and Banking the Asia Pacific resource center for senior finance executives, daily news, analysis, best practice and case studies in Corporate Finance, trade finance, treasury and risk management, capital expenditure, Banking, mergers and acquisitions
Cash and Liquidity Management, Corporate Finance, Insurance, Treasury Management

Management

CFO innovation Asia the Asia Pacific resource center for senior finance executives, daily news, analysis, best practice and case studies in Finance Management, Corporate Governance, Human Resource Management, Compensation and Benefits, Mergers and Acquisitions, Professional Development, Corporate Real Estate, Risk Management, Budgeting and Forecasting, Business Process Management, Business Process Reengineering, Outsourcing.
Budgeting and Planning, Business Expense Management, Human Capital Management, Outsourcing and Shared Services, Risk Management

Metrics

Corporates, Financial Services

Technology

CFO innovation Asia Technology the Asia Pacific resource center for senior finance executives, daily news, analysis, best practice and case studies in Finance Systems, Business Intelligence, EPR, Accounting software, CRM, Cloud Computing, Telecommunications, Business Process Outsourcing, Business Process Management Software.
Business Intelligence, Enterprise Software and Systems, Financial Systems, Security