PREPARING FOR MANAGEMENT INTERVIEWS

One thing I see many of us struggle with is how to prepare for a management interview. 

All too often I have people coming to work with me who've fallen completely flat in the interview. Sometimes it is because it was for an internal role, where they've basically been doing the job, so it *should* have been a bit of shoo-in. But ended up not being the case. 

Other times they prepared for their interview, internal or external, the exact same way they've prepared for all their previous interviews. And quite simply, that doesn't cut it.

So what is different? How do you prepare for a management interview? And more importantly - what the heck is the management presentation all about?

Well, don't worry if you are embarking on this. I've got you. I want to walk you through the key preparations you need to make in order to ace your next job interview.

KEY #1 - RESEARCH 

The first mistake I see people make is not preparing and practicing questions. Hopefully, you've done this before for previous jobs. But if you haven't. It's time to start. Don't just expect to wing it. There is an expectation of preparation, so if you haven't, you aren't going to be up to the same level as the competition.

Do some research on the job role, the organization you'll be moving into, the team. This is also where the informational interviews I talk about all the time come in. If you don't know how to run an informational interview or ask for one, go and check out episode 038: How to Land and Excel in an Informational Interview to Accelerate Your Career and Job Hunt (https://tonicollis.com/episode38)

Those informational interviews are gold for figuring out the type of areas that you need to be focusing on for not only your question prep but also your answer prep. After all, there is an infinite number of ways you can answer any question, but the best answer is tailored to the needs of the organization and what they are after. The best place to get that information is from the informational interview. 

For example, if you know they are struggling with revenue generation, make sure your answers highlight your experience in developing new products that generate revenue, instead of just the development. Make that link. I recently worked with someone who was going for a job as a senior technical leader, in an organization that was sufficiently large and there were clear demarcations between development and marketing/sales. But she focused her interview answers on how development can contribute to improved sales revenue. That business need and business awareness landed her the job.

So do your homework.

KEY #2 - KNOW THE JOB DESCRIPTION

Another crucial area for prepping interview questions is to take apart the job description. This is a skill that is worth developing now - it's something I take my students through in the Leveraging LinkedIn Kit as it creates great LinkedIn profiles as well. But for the interview it's gold. See if you can guess the questions that may come up at the interview, simply based on what they are asking and highlighting in the job description. I like to look at multiple roles across multiple companies, all with the same focus. But then, of course, make sure you really understand all the ins and outs of the job you are actually applying for. This one alone is possibly the most important part of the job hunt process. AND of course, it applies to the internal interviews as well!

And if you are struggling with how to do that, that is precisely why I created the VIP leaders program, where we can spend two half-days getting you ready for the job hunt and interview. If you love the sound of having a clear job hunt strategy in place or need help identifying the questions you are likely to be asked, and preparing leadership style answers, then my VIP service might be just what you need. Head to tonicollis.com/vip to find out more.

But once you've identified your interview questions, and prepped ideal answers, it's also worth creating yourself an interview question bank. This is simply a document where you have example questions and answers that you've prepared. The first interview will require a lot of prep, but you'll find a lot of the work just needs to be done that once, and although you'll add and refine with each round of interviews and with each job you apply to, the workload becomes a whole lot less.

KEY #3 - ANSWER THE QUESTIONS AS A LEADER

Make sure that you are answering the questions at the right level. I've had amazing women come to work with me who have not been getting the results they want from promotions and interviews, and simply put, the biggest reason is how they are answering. Are you talking as a leader? Are you demonstrating your business credibility? Are you sharing impact answers, instead of 'I did this'. When do you use 'we' and when do you use 'I' - be mindful of all of this for a leader's interview. After all, you need to own your successes by using I, but also give credit to the team. Getting this balance right requires care, patience, and practice. 

And the big one I see many getting wrong is not sharing the business outcome of your work. It may be something you did 10 years ago as an IC, but what is the business implication, what was and still is the business impact. How quickly did it make that change? As an IC, you aren't expected to know or focus on this. But as a leader, it is mandatory. 

KEY #4 - PREPARING FOR A MANAGEMENT PRESENTATION

Management presentations can take on many forms, but for many senior roles, you'll be asked to prepare a presentation on what you would focus on as a leader.

These often take the form of a 30-60-90 day plan. I've helped many clients work on their management presentation, but the winning ones often have an element of focus on what you'll do in the first 30, 60, and 90 days to add value to the organization that will be employing you. 

Whatever format this presentation takes you need to understand why the job exists - the why is always in the job description, but those informational interviews are now GOLDEN as well. To write a great plan and presentation you need to clearly articulate how you are going to fulfill the particular needs of the company. 

You'll also find that preparing in this way will help you enormously even if you aren't being asked to provide a presentation. It will really help with those forward-focused questions and help you deal with those traditional questions, with a leadership focus.

Obviously, any presentation that says 'I will do this, this and this' as an outsider is going to be missing many marks because you don't know all the details. BUT that doesn't mean you can't clearly articulate areas that you see as an outsider as particular focuses. After all, this is about showing your creative thinking, your drive and work ethic, as well as problem-solving skills - all areas that you need to be demonstrating as a leader. 

I also highly suggest making sure you are up-to-date on industry announcements on the day of the interview. There is nothing like a competitor dropping a news item that you can see will impact the business and highlighting your initial approach to addressing that in your interview, or your presentation to really blow them out of the water.

Having said all of that, a great structure for a 30/60/90 plan is to start with your background, unless by the time you've done the presentation everyone on the panel will have already given you a 1:1 interview. And even then, this is an opportunity to highlight core skills and strengths. If you received any feedback from previous interviews or a first-round make sure you address any concerns on your strengths/experience/abilities in the intro.

Then for the 30-day piece focus on your learning. Where and how will you look to learn and listen. What will this mean for the team. Focus on your learning strategy and tactics.

In the 60-day section, you want to talk about quick wins, the benefit of them, and how you will develop your medium-term strategy based on the learning.

Then in the 90-day, you're likely going to want to focus on the implementation of strategy and tactics that you've identified as key considerations in your first 60 days. 

And of course, throughout, pepper your ideas. Be cognisant that you can't know everything, and therefore use phrases such as 'from what I've already learnt, I would anticipate that one of the focuses would be on x, and that to do that we will need to do A, B and C. I'd expect y impact at the end of the 90 days'.

Something like that will help show that you aren't just talking theory, but really already have a vision, but you are also ready to adapt that as you learn quickly by landing on your feet. 

And it really can be that simple. Nothing more complicated. 

But remember, preparation is key. It does take time and effort, but if you are ready to take the next step, get a more rewarding job, and hopefully a salary boost to go along with it, that's worth it right?

And of course, if this all sounds amazing in theory but you are struggling with the execution, need some help with identifying those questions, preparing for your interview, including getting my help on tailoring those answers as a leader, then I'd love to help. Make sure you check out my VIP strategy days for women leaders over at tonicollis.com/vip to find out more. Whether you are at the starting block and need help with how to get going, or you have fallen flat one too many times in an interview and need some help with uplevel, I'd be happy to help. 

If you want to hear more about Preparing for Management Interviews then be sure to listen to episode 46 of the Leading Women in Tech podcast: 

https://tonicollis.com/episode46