The economy is picking up steam and opportunities for CFOs to hire, as well be recruited by others, seems more likely. An article posted last week in PC World and CIO offered interviewing tips for and from CFOs to help hire the right person the first time.
Nearly all the CFOs interviewed agreed: they wanted “a highly motivated self-starter not afraid to make an occasional mistake, with a strong commitment to collaboration and being a team player, a willingness to take responsibility for failures and successes, and the ability to keep focused on goals while maintaining passion about their work and the company.”
But wanting, finding, and then confirming those traits and skills requires more skill than ever before on the part of the interviewer. The hiring insights included interviewing tips from quite a few CFOs, recruiters and management experts. Thanks to Focus, a business research site, I had the opportunity to participate and contribute to this article. You can read the full article at “Hiring Insights From, and For, CFOs” or continue here to read the highlights.
One of the biggest challenges confronting managers hiring for any position, not only CFO, is that out of work candidates have plenty of time to prepare for the interview, often more than the managers doing the interviewing. And at the C-Level and senior management levels, nearly every out-of-work exec has had some outplacement counseling which includes … yes, that’s right – interviewing skills training. Little if any time is invested by hiring manager to update their hiring skills. When it does happen, it’s generally a few minutes here or there or one bullet on the long list of annual HR training updates. That puts many human resource professionals and especially the senior managers interviewing for the new CFO at a distinct advantage.
In addition, many interviewers tend to do most of the talking. “A good rule of thumb is that a good interview is 70 percent listening and observing,” was a point I made for the article. Vibrant Mobile CFO Jeff Babka agreed and offered his own interviewing tip: “I first make sure that they understand the job, the company, our culture and my style. Then, I say, 'Look, tell me what you think I should know about you that would make me want to hire you. Start wherever you want in your life, end up wherever you want….”
Another common mistake is that managers use recommended interview questions as a checklist. They ask one question and evaluate the candidate’s response. Then they move on to question 2 and repeat the process. Then comes question 3. When the run out of questions or the candidate stops talking, the interview is over.
But an interview isn’t a test. It can’t be scripted. An effective interview should be dynamic. It’s a conversation where the candidate should be doing most of the talking. “Interviewers have to keep probing….Interviewers tend to stop when they hear the right answer…[when] I'm looking for is to have someone tell me what some of the challenges were during that process, were you able to repeat that, did other departments repeat that success? I can go into an interview with one question and keep asking more questions about that question."
Hiring the right CFO is part science, part art. Interviewing remains a critical component of hiring for open position. The uptick in hiring is a good sign for our economy but it will put undue pressure on the managers who are doing the hiring. In many situations, the candidate is a much better storyteller than the manager is a listener. The article on hiring insights for CFOs offers several additional recommendations. Read the full article here.
Yes, this was a really prime post. In hypothesis I'd like to publish like this too - taking time and real effort to make a fabulous article... but what can I say... I dilly-dally a lot and never seem to get something done.
Posted by: Ferlyn | September 21, 2011 at 12:56 PM