Actionable Advice: How Candidates for Top Tech Roles Can Prep for Their Interviews -- and Knock Them Out of the Park

Martha and Carol Lynn started working together in 2010 and have placed hundreds of CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs into new roles.

Here is some advice they regularly give to candidates regarding their job search.

Market the Right Resume to the Right People

Carol Lynn: Let’s start with your resume. At the level we are recruiting – C-suite technology leaders – your resume should be easy to read, stress business impact, strike the right balance between detail and brevity, and ideally, be no longer than three pages. When a candidate tells me that they’ve accomplished so much that they need seven pages, I worry about their communication skills. Some hiring executives will look for a business focus and others want to see a long list of technologies.  A perfect technology leadership resume should demonstrate both.

Martha: Once you have a marketable resume, start reaching out to recruiters.  It is easy to find tech exec recruiters online, but the more you leverage your networks for recruiter introductions, the more meetings you will have.  When a friend gets a new job, ask for an introduction to that recruiter.  Ask your networks which recruiters they use to fill their senior tech roles.  As a recruiter, we cannot respond to every meeting request, but when a current client or placed candidate makes an introduction, we are eager to honor that relationship and will respond. 

In Interviews, Focus on Business Impact

Martha: When you are prepping for your first round of interviews (see a few of our helpful videos with interview tips here), make sure your talking points are focused on business impact, but with enough technology detail to demonstrate your knowledge. You didn’t “just” implement a CRM system, you drove customer acquisition up by 30 percent. You didn’t “just” create an efficient platform for fast M&A for a PE rollup, you drove 40 percent of EBIDTA growth.

Be sure to prep discussion points on team development, influence, and business partnership. The more leadership stories you can tell the better,  and be sure to understand your own leadership style.  It is good to have a compelling and concise description of your leadership style, with some strong examples.

Carol Lynn: Understanding the culture of the hiring organization is as important as understanding the job description. But make sure you understand both the current and target culture. You will find values posted on the corporate website– but sometimes those describe the culture that the organization wants, not what they have today. If you have a contact at the company, connect with them to understand their culture before you have the interview. How does the executive committee respond to tough sales cycles? How are decisions made?  Is there a change management capability in the business? What gets in people’s way?  This way, you can tailor your discussion to align with the culture and decide if that culture is for you.

If their culture seems misaligned with yours, it’s not a deal breaker. Realize that a new hire (you!) can be an effective culture-changer.

What to Avoid Doing in Interviews - and How to Engage with Recruiters

Carol Lynn: I advise my candidates not to “over talk” during interviews.  I tell them to “share the microphone,” which means making sure to engage and create a lasting connection.  If a question necessitates a long response, you can give a high-level summary, and then dive into the details most important to the interviewer.

Remember to move beyond a theoretical, consultative level in your discussion. Make sure your interviewer knows how you solved a problem or drove a result. Rather than say, the most important aspect of change management is communication (which we all know), articulate how you have built change management into your organization.

Martha: Know the level of detail appropriate to the role and speak at that level. If you oversaw a massive project, but did not get into the detail, focus on how you built that great team.  To make sure your interviewer knows that you can dig into details when you need to, talk about previous roles when you had a smaller team.  While everyone wants their tech leader to be able to lead from above, when a crisis hits, a potential employer will want to know that its tech chief can be on the ground with the team.

Carol Lynn: Be transparent with your recruiter. Tell us if there is something happening that could jeopardize your candidacy. Are you entertaining another offer? Is your spouse having second thoughts about the location? Do you want to stay at your current company for three more months to complete a project? The more we know, the more we can drive the process so that it works out well for you.