Sital Ruparelia

I received a call today from a Financial Controller who had been invited to a final interview with the UK Finance Director (FD) of a major insurance group.

His question;-

“So what do I ask the Group FD? The rest of the team have answered all my questions and I am completely sold on them. Do I just ask him questions about career progression and what roles he sees opening up for me?”

My response was:

“No. You need to talk about their needs, not just yours.

Asking questions about your career progression is all about you. You should be asking questions about their business, their goals and their needs.

Start thinking like an independent consultant who is meeting with a potential client. Treat it as a final meeting with an economic buyer from your client company for your services. Once you do this, the whole thing becomes easier.”

I offered him some suggested questions about the future vision of the group and finance function along with questions to help him understand the current and future challenges. These would in turn help him position himself as a problem solver and maxmise the chances of success.

This type of questioning achieves 5 things:-

1. Improves your credibilty – shows you to be a big picture thinker who can converse about business wide issues (as opposed to a just another accountant).

2. Increases the likeability factor – Rather than listening to what you want – these open questions allows the interviewer to talk about his business , his plans and his problems. Most people enjoy talking about themselves and like individuals who allow them to speak and then listen.

3. Provides you with lots of data to decide whether you want to join them or not. Remember it’s a two way street – it’s about you are assessing whether they are an employer you wish to work with – it’s not just about them assessing you.

4. Better salary and bonus. You are talking with the economic buyer – the person who will be writing the pay cheque. This line of conversation helps the buyer define the value to them of you working for them – and so improves your chances of negotiating an improved package

5. Hooks – to use a sales term, asking such questions gives you all the ‘hooks’ to then sell yourself based around the needs of your client (i.e. your future employer).  Once the interviewer sees you meeting their true needs then you are in the driving seat.

One of the key success criteria - particularly with senior level line managers and directors - is to view the person in front of you as a potential client. Once you do this, it becomes much easier to focus on them instead of you, much easier to understand their needs first rather than rattling on about you and your needs.

It is also the fastest way to secure a job offer and indeed gives you maximum leverage in salary negotations as the buyer (the interviewer) is the one coming up with quantifiable ways in which they see you helping the business overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

The best thing about such client centric interviews is that you are only facilitating the process – it is the interviewer who is coming up with all the answers.

The Result?

Here’s the email the client sent me:

“Sital, I followed your advice and it went like a dream.  I asked the questions you suggested and treated him like a client and he loved it. At the end he said

‘Sorry but I’ve over run and need to get to another meeting which I’m late for. Really enjoyed the discussion and I’m sure we’ll be in touch very soon with next steps’

Update

He subsequently received a job offer at the top end of his financial requirements. No questions and no lengthy negotiations as the FD saw him as a peer rather than someome two levels down.  In fact he was told by the recruiter that his approach at the final interview had made him completely different to the other 2 candidates at the final stage.

The power of client centric interviews.