Welcome to Whistler.
I'm on top of Whistler mountain talking to you today, thought I would
make things interesting taking you along with my hike as well.
Comment below.
How many of you like hiking?
Mountain hiking?
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I want to hear from you.
So let's go.
It's a beautiful day outside.
Are you currently preparing for a job interview for an executive
position and you're a little bit nervous?
Well, here's what, here's the thing.
When it comes to preparing for executive level jobs, it requires a
completely different modality of operating and it requires a different
mindset.
It requires a different strategy for preparing because let's face it,
executive jobs are not the same as general workers, general jobs out
there.
It requires a completely different vernacular.
And so what I'm going to share with you in this video is, are some
five key strategies on how you can prepare effectively for your
executive role.
And I'm going to share them in terms of what are the five biggest
mistakes that I see executives make.
And then after sharing the each mistake, I'm going to share what to do
instead.
So come for a walk with me in this very unique place and let's go.
The first biggest mistake is Googling common interview questions and
scripting out their answers, right?
How many of you are guilty of this?
I want to hear from you comment below, or if you care to comment
below, have you done this before, where you open a browser, you Google
common interview questions and you make a list of all the common
interview questions, and then you write a script for every single one,
memorize your script, try to make it perfect.
Try to make it sound professional, trying to make it sound top level,
and then you memorize it, memorize, memorize it.
The problem with that approach is that now you're in the interview and
you're, it's really difficult to stay present because the focus now is
on remembering what you wrote and what you wrote as you had time to
delete it edit it and so on sounds perfect.
And you want to sound that way for the job interview and then you show
up and then it's really curious and really afraid that you're going to
forget what you've written down.
And then in the interview they ask questions that don't even relate at
all to the interview questions that were commonly found on Google.
And so instead, right, instead of putting yourself in a situation
where memorization and needing to be panicking, if you don't remember
what you've scripted, instead of putting yourself in that situation,
think about what, what is the reason why you want to take this, this
executive job position?
What is your reason why you want to go and work for this company?
What are your real reasons?
Because when it comes to preparing for executive job interviews, there
are no common interview questions.
That may be the case for a more junior level position, and that you
may be able to be successful at Googling common interview questions
there, but at the executive level, there are no common interview
questions.
You would be much better served at speaking from the truth of why you
want to work for this company and the truth of why the true problems
that you're going to solve, why they're inspiring to you and being
prepared in for being able to answer questions impromptu, because the
whole reason why they need to speak with you and meet with you is
because they're trying to determine the right fit at the executive
level what is more important are going to be your ability to
communicate, influence, persuade, how you can have diplomacy over
your, over your c over your team members as well, and in the
leadership role, because you're going to be representing the company
in many ways.
So instead of spending time preparing for common interview questions,
this requires a completely different mindset.
So with that, let's move on to the second biggest problem.
The second biggest mistake that executives make when applying for
these roles is focusing and talking about the proficiency in their
technical skills.
At the executive level positions, your technical skills matter much
less.
What matters more is your ability to communicate persuade, influence,
and have and exude diplomacy that matters much more than your
technical proficiencies.
So what do you do you a lot better if you were to prepare for these
interviews in a completely different way, don't focus on the technical
proficiencies, they're already on your resume, and they already assume
that you have the technical proficiencies, if you've got to where you
got to so far, and that's not what you're being hired for primarily.
So instead, what you can do is focusing focus instead on how you're
going to represent the company within the context of the function that
you're applying for.
Now in, during the job interview, you might not be exactly asked
exactly how do you plan to represent us.
You may not be exact asked that exact question, but it's important
that you prepare because this is going to be your framework on what
you're going to, how you're going to lead what strategic direction
that you're going to have.
And how are you going to represent if you are going to be traveling,
being at conferences, if you're going to be in the day to day as well,
how are you going to represent?
So this is important that you prepare that way so that you can focus
and show up as a leader in the job interview.
Big mistake, number three, paraphrasing their accomplishments from
their resume.
When it comes to the paraphrasing, this is where we get into the habit
of, this is what I did.
I accomplished this.
And then I achieved that.
And as a result of that, here's what happened for the company.
And then I have achieved this and here's why that was important.
So that's the paraphrasing that I see a lot happening.
And this is a mistake because when it comes to executive job levels,
it requires a completely different mindset, as I, as I mentioned
earlier.
And when you're paraphrasing your achievements, it actually ends up
creating a bigger objection in the interviewer's mind.
Here's what I mean by that.
Let's say you were to share your achievements, what you've
accomplished for your previous company or your current one that you're
working for, but you're applying for an executive position in
different company.
Then if the interview were to hear all of the things that you've done
for that company, the objection that is immediately created is, well,
that's great.
It must have worked for that company, but we're different.
It might've worked back then, but these are different times or that's
great, it worked for them, but I don't know if it's going to work for
us because we have different resources or we are serving a different
marketplace and so on, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
So it ends up creating objections if you only focus on paraphrasing
your achievements in your resume.
So instead, what I encourage you to share is to share the thought
process behind those achievements.
So here's what I mean by that.
You've been applying principles, the principles that got to where you
are successful currently in your career path.
And instead of sharing your paraphrasing and sharing your
achievements, share the principles that you've been applying that
reveals your thought process along the way.
And in this way, you sound very unique.
You're going to sound like you have an understanding of why you were
successful.
And therefore, when you are able to articulate those principles,
principles work, no matter where you apply them.
Principles, that's the whole essence of principles, principles are
going to work if you apply them even across disciplines, if you apply
them across domains and across functions, principles are going to work
for you if you understand the principle and you're applying the
principles.
So now, you know the steps on how to master the executive job in
interview process so far, we've only covered three.
There's two more to go, but I've told you what to do, but if you're
still thinking about this and you're like, okay, I know what to do,
but I still don't know how to do it.
I get it.
And maybe you're the kind of person who is listening to this, and it
makes sense to you, but you want to know how, if that's you, then I
invite you to work with me.
Below this video in the link the description is an application for my
executive coaching program.
And this is where on a weekly basis, I'm going to give you the process
on how do you extrapolate those principles?
How do you articulate them, position yourself in a leader, as a leader
in your industry, especially when it comes to transitioning into a new
company or a new executive position, how do you position yourself that
way?
And at the same time, how do you ensure that you are able to handle
their objections?
Whether or not you know that they're what their objections are or
you're not sure how do you manage them through those as well?
So this is an effect in creating an effective communication and
articulation process.
And if this is something you're serious about developing, then click
the link below.
And I look forward to working with you on the inside.
Biggest mistake number four is asking what it takes to succeed in this
role.
Now I get it.
This is very common interview advice when it comes to at the end of
the interview, the job interview asks you, do you have any questions
for us?
The common advice is ask them, what does it take to succeed?
Ask them, what am I, what are your expectations for this role?
Ask them those questions.
Now that may be appropriate for a more junior level position to ask,
what does it take to succeed?
What are the expectations or questions on that level?
It may be okay to ask for a more junior level.
But if you were to ask that question, applying for an executive role,
then it will create objections in your interviewers mind.
And the reason why there's going to be objections created when you ask
questions like that is because they're going to wonder why you don't
know that already.
At the executive level they're going to assume you already know what
it takes to succeed.
They're going to assume you already know what it, what the
expectations are.
They are going to assume you already know because you're the one who
is applying for an executive position.
And they're expecting you to lead.
A question like that does not exude leadership.
It exudes more needing, requiring more handholding, more definition of
the role and that is what they're looking for.
Someone who knows what the role is and knows how to hit the ground
running.
So instead of asking questions like that, ask questions, that truly
demonstrate your wisdom.
So here's what I mean by that.
If you are able to learn how to ask questions that demonstrate that
only somebody of your particular wisdom can ask such a question.
Only someone who knows what you do has that depth of wisdom that you
do can ask that type of question, then ask that question that you
ask.
Biggest mistake number five is giving the play by play when answering
questions, when it comes to answering any type of question, it could
be a behavioral question.
It could be a competency-based question.
It could be a future based question.
It doesn't matter what I hear, what I see a lot of executives doing is
giving them the play by play, which means the play by play, here's
what I did first.
And then I did this next and then there's what happens.
So therefore I did this.
So that's what I mean by play by play.
Think about the sports recaps, the way that they recap the game they
say, what happened exactly.
And they give their recollection.
That's the play-by-play.
And that's one of the biggest mistakes that I see happening.
Now, this may be okay if you're interviewing for a more junior
position to give the play by play, because they want to know what you
did, but at the executive position, it is not the right way to really
make a good and solid first leadership impression.
So instead of giving them a play by play, whatever type of question
they ask, instead of doing a play by play, it would be more wise to
share your proprietary framework that reveals a unique way in which
you are operating, because let's face it, at the executive position
you're going to be operating at higher levels than you have before.
Levels that challenge you outside your, your, your technical frame set
that frame of mind, that you're used to things that challenge your way
of operating.
And so if you're able to reveal your frameworks, that's going to be
your proprietary method.
Then they're really good to understand from that, that exactly how you
lead and how you fit into the leadership.
And by the way, I've so far, I've given you five biggest mistakes and
what to do instead, I have one more tip, and this is a bonus.
This bonus tip is sharing with you an uncommon, uncommon interview,
tip uncommon interview tip on how you can prepare for the executive
job interview.
So if you're curious about what this uncommon interview advice is,
then that video is coming right up next.
Don't go anywhere.