What makes a great Finance interview process?

What makes a great Finance interview process within Seed to Series D tech scale-ups?

The concept of what makes a great interview process is a topic that has been mulled over and reforged almost every year.?With unique variants as unique as the company that deploys them, existing all over EMEA and the US.

Every company’s needs are different, these needs can be shaped by the role itself, the company’s stage of growth, their brand recognition, their size, culture and even their own perception of themselves in the market.

Zeren spend all our time and energy within the growth Tech and Fintech space.?In that regard we will only be suggesting solutions that are applicable to the Seed to Series D space, focussing on Individual contributors up to mid-level management. (However, there are no reasons why this information cannot be used to support any business anywhere).

To understand more about what a scaling tech platform needs from its interview process we need to ascertain what a scaling tech platform needs from its Finance Team.

What does a scaling Tech platform need from its finance team members.

·????????Stability – Stability allows the individuals to learn and then master their skillsets, producing better and more reliable work.?The company itself can the build a structure around that individual and map future job specs reliably as they know what is covered and what needs to be covered.

·????????Diligence, curiosity and a self-determined attitude – These traits are found in individuals who are very happy searching for problems to fix, searching for things to improve, making the best of what they have and always thinking of ways to improve their own environment.

·????????Grit – An individual who possesses grit will ride out the tough times, put the time in to make the overall environment better for the future. They will be able to weather change and still be there when the good times arrive.

·????????Clarity of Motivation – Candidates who have a clear vision of what they’re looking for and the environment they want to be in are invaluable for any scaling business. They will generally be more self-aware around the company’s culture and be clear about what they’re looking for themselves.

·????????Technical Ability – A company needs its Finance team to have a good set of technical finance skills so that they can deliver competently on the job they are engaged upon.

·????????Industry Knowledge – Does the successful candidate really understand the industry they are involved in, and commercial drivers are important within it.

·????????Cultural Fit – Cultural fit can only really be defined by consensus as one person’s subjective opinion is not robust enough or consistent when it comes to defining someone’s personality.

How do we test for this?

Stability

This can be done at the CV screening process – Every company needs to reflect on how long they want their new employee to stay with them and then simply see if that level of stability is reflected in the candidates CV.?If It isn’t, then “History Tends to Repeat Itself” so you can decide on where your threshold of risk lies on that topic.

Diligence, curiosity and Self determined attitude

A holistic approach is required on this topic, with a need for questions being asked repeatedly on this subject by multiple stakeholders over multiple rounds (at least 3) to see if a consistent consensus is acquired.?You’re looking to for the candidate to demonstrate a diverse array of achievements and work style where you can see this behaviour inferred in their actions. ?

·????????Candidates who demonstrate their ability to search for problems

·????????Are keen to understand your reporting infrastructure/systems are put together

·????????Demonstrate their achievements in the process and controls space

·????????Show their ability to engage with gritty finance such a posting journals etc.

·????????Demonstrate some systems improvements they made.

·????????Communicate their love of managing broad roles and diversity of work.

Candidates who like to know exactly what they’re doing every day, who repeatedly quiz you over the job spec and who ask repeatedly about what’s expected of them maybe best avoided as they will require a lot of support and won’t be self-determined.

Grit

Grit is something that can be defined by two factors, CV screening and then prior work conditions.?CV screening can show you how long a person stayed with their previous brands, stability plays into this topic.?The other factor is prior work conditions.?

Quizzing this topic must be done with subtlety as over focus on it in your questioning can lead the candidate to think there is a negative culture around Work Life Balance within this platform.

It’s best approached across multiple stages and approached under the wider guide of “what are you looking for in your career?” “Why are you leaving your last company?”

·????????What is their tolerance for long hours?

·????????What is their view on Work Life Balance?

Consistency of behaviour is key to defining grit, as actions rather than words define Grit.

Clarity of Motivation

This topic is important as you can really get a sense of what the candidate is motivated by in their career.?Candidates career motivations are as diverse as the candidates themselves, so we must not be closed off to their diverse goals.?However, we need to think about whether their goals are achievable in our organisation. “Will this move for them make sense?” “Will they be happy in the long term?”

Again, this topic needs to be approached over multiple stages (3+)to see if their story shifts or changes.?Consistency of message helps to differentiate the sincere candidates from the candidates who are great at “talking a good game” but perhaps aren’t being as sincere as they could be.

Technical Ability

Not taking for granted a candidate’s technical skill can be the difference between making a great hire or an average hire.

A verbal check on a candidate’s skillset can often be enough, this can be done easily by asking open questions around certain processes or actions within their CV.?The candidate’s ability to verbalise their depth of experience can usually give enough reassurance to most hiring managers, however if the candidate is quite junior or the work Is known to require some complex technical ability a test is always the best approach.

Test’s can sometimes cause disasters in recruitment processes if they end being too complicated or too heavy for the job itself.?Paying close attention to who puts the test together in the 1st place is key.?

·????????Is that person empathic enough to pitch the test at the right level for the candidates.

·????????Have you had someone in your organisation do the test themselves?

Test’s can be great tools to differentiate the actual interest of the candidates as well.

Candidates who are involved in multiple processes may decide it’s not worth their time.

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Industry Knowledge

Understanding the candidate’s industry knowledge and transferable knowledge can be important to discern their interest in the role but also of their actual commercial ability.

Quizzing this over multiple stages Is important as a candidate’s ability to do background research into the company or to demonstrate their expertise shows their interest in their career and their enthusiasm about your brand.

You can approach this topic easily by having a small section of each interview when you talk about “The Business” and ask them what they know about your company. You can then go into ever increasing detail about everything from:

·????????Company Mission

·????????Companies House Financial figures and what they mean.

·????????Company products and their market they exist within.

Cultural Fit

This topic is the classic one that can only be defined by consensus over multiple stages. I would always push for at least 3 to 4 separate stages on this topic, as you want both financial and relevant operational leaders to meet the candidate and see if there is a good feeling all round.

Defining company Values can be key to this topic and how to test for those values.

Defining if the candidate is Mission Led or not. (Are they motivated by the companies’ wider goals?)

Asking a candidate directly about their values can be a tricky scenario as many people have never thought about this as a topic. But setting up a scenario where they get to pick one that they stand by at each individual interview stage can be an interesting way forward.

Quizzing a candidate about what they know about “your Mission” and what they look for in the companies they work for is another in option.

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I hope this was of some small use.

Remember these thoughts are my own based off my 7 years recruiting in Qualified finance.

If you want career advice or help with your search, drop me your CV.

[email protected]

Or message me on Linkedin -?Simon Bennett .