Interview Mastery

In the fast-paced world of business, securing a top position as a Senior Leader in roles such as Chief Customer Officer, Customer Service Director, or Director of Customer Experience can be both exhilarating and challenging. The competition is fierce, and getting to interview (more on that in a future session) and standing out during interviews is crucial to landing these prestigious roles.

In this piece, we will explore strategies and insights that will help you ace your next interview, help you secure the right role for you, and advance your career in customer-centric leadership positions. Whether you're looking to climb the corporate ladder or switch to a different organisation, these tips are designed to give you a competitive edge.

1. Clear and Concise: The ability to convey your ideas clearly and concisely is invaluable. It's not just about what you say but how you say it and how long you take to say it! In an interview you have an hour probably at most, take away the first 5 minutes for chit chat and logistics, the last 5 minutes for wrapping up and pleasantries and that leaves you with 45-50 minutes. If the interviewer opens with, 'tell me a little about yourself' and you spend the next 15 minutes talking through your life from cradle to now, you have just used 1/3rd of your potential time and likely lost your prospect in the first five minutes. Expect an opener like, 'tell me about yourself', 'talk me through your CV', or 'why are you here today' and prepare a short synopsis that captures the essence of you and why you make a great fit for this role, highlighting elements you know this role requires.
2. Organise Your Thoughts: Before speaking or responding to a question, take a moment to organise your thoughts. Consider the key points you want to convey and the logical order in which to present them. This prevents rambling and ensures your message is coherent. Again preparation is key here, most interview question will be centred around when you have delivered, reduced, improved or fixed a strategic level challenge. Have a few well prepared examples from your recent roles which include challenges across stakeholders, people, process and technology and use the STAR technique wherever you can. You need to be able to communicate the problem, what you did, the result, what was the impact, where was the value and the financial benefit. Remember time, clear, concise and to the point.
3. Practice Listening: Effective communication isn't just about speaking—it's also about listening. Pay close attention to what others are saying, and ask clarifying questions if something is unclear. Reflecting back what you've heard can help ensure everyone is on the same page. Stephen R Covey of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People says 'If you are going into an important conversation or meeting, gather your thoughts and try and remove any assumptions you have about how or where the conversation might go'.
4. Practice Self-Editing: Review your communication, such as responses with a trusted friend, or colleague, a great way to improve is to record yourself, use Teams, Zoom, or, record on your phone. Listen back and see how you could improve your message and land some impact statements that showcase your skills, values, and that are relevant for the role you are considering. Eliminate unnecessary words and phrases, and ensure your message is concise yet comprehensive. Keep honing and practicing.
5. Don't make it all about the Customer: As a customer leader, whilst the customer is important and you will be required to drive efficiencies and improvements, your ability to communicate the impact and value to the business strategy and future goals is critical, align your objectives to those of your peers and other C-suite, Director stakeholders and their targets to have the optimum impact.
6. Test the system: Before any senior customer focused interview, you should test the channels, communications, technology and process, to gain real insight and be able to offer some thoughts and improvement areas based on your very own customer experience and observations on the customer service interactions.
7. Ask questions: Have some well thought out questions to ask at the end of the interview. These should always give you that extra opportunity to add some impact statements and another example as to why you are a great fit.

Done well, these tips will help set you apart as a senior leader in customer-centric roles like a COO, Chief Customer Officer, Customer Service Director, or Director of Customer Experience.

Remember, clear and concise communication isn't just a skill; it's a powerful tool that helps you, your teams and your business to more customer-centric and business success!

What do you think, do you have any other top tips?

If you have been interviewing for a senior customer led appointment in your leadership team and your shortlist isn't acing these elements, then do give me a call, or pop me an email and I can show you how top talent does things differently.