Top burning interview questions for CEOs and senior leaders (with answers)
CEOs and top managers off the game regarding job search. If an executive search agent approaches them, they swing between excessive confidence and under preparation - missing their chance. If they are actively searching, they narrow their opportunities by failing to upgrade their portfolio to new standards. This efficient article helps you succeed by understanding the job market for CEOs and C-Suite level candidates. It guides you through the questions you´ll be asked and how to think as an interviewer - even if you´ve been one yourself. I´m pouring my Executive Search Consultant expertise here. Get in touch and let me know if it helps.
Simona Spilak, MSc 20 March. 2023
- What are the three most challenging interview questions for a CEO candidate?
- What are the six most common interview questions and answers for senior leaders?
- Keynotes, complementary questions, and how your answers speak about you
- Strengths and weaknesses revealed during the job interview for CEO and top management level
- How do you answer executive-level interview questions?
- How do companies select the best fit during a CEO and top management executive interview?
What are the three hardest interview questions for a CEO candidate?
As the market changes, you can expect more poignant questions to prove you´re on top of your industry and on top of yourself.
In the coming years, we will see a variation of these. The most effective way to approach “trend topics” and be safe is to understand why interviewers focus on these critical competencies and how you can best prepare.
What questions will you be asked in an executive interview in 2023? Critical competencies for CEO and top manager candidates?
These are the key leadership competencies companies are looking for in 2023 in their CEOs and top managers: managing flexibility, approachable leadership, and capacity to create development opportunities for themselves and others:
- Flexibility. Understanding what flexibility means and how you integrate it as a top manager.
I'm not talking about hybrid or remote, but about trusting people are responsible enough to decide how and where they'll do their job to deliver results.
Q: As a CEO or manager, have you built that kind of trust? - Engagement. Embracing employees' needs for accessible leadership and how well-equipped you are to be approached and answer their questions at any level as a part of your role.
Q: As a CEO or manager, how well-equipped are you to manage talent and performance? - Development. As a top manager, you will be in charge of creating development opportunities for others and yourself. Career development is part of employees' concerns and expectations and is crucial to your role.
Q: As a CEO or manager, how committed are you to continuous learning? Are you responsible for your personal development?
If you´re an applicant, focus on these plus your industry trends for a successful job interview.
What are the six most common interview questions and answers for senior leaders?
The six top questions you can expect at a CEO-level interview are there to validate whether you have the requested:
- Expertise, experience, and thinking process suited for this role.
- How you meet the requirements of the job and colleagues.
- Cultural and personality match, showcasing your deep understanding of the company and the role.
Let me emphasize that you´re also interviewing the company, no matter what. The match has to work for both sides.
Question 1: Do you have a great example of how you manage change?
Keynote: Organizational change. Use examples from, i.e., strategic change or people change. Interviewers are interested in two different things. Make sure you speak of both separately:
- How did you manage change?
- How do you lead change?
One is more about execution, communication, engagement, and meeting deadlines. The other is about a proactive approach to change management, leading, inspiring, and coaching people to understand the fundamentals of change from the human point of view.
Complementary questions: This is top-level thinking. Depending on the role, you can expect more strategic or operational questions:
- How deeply were you involved?
- What was the scope of changes you were managing?
- What is the impact, global or local?
- How was it impacting the industry?
- And fundamental: How did you manage your energy?
Your answers reveal: From your answers, interviewers will conclude your natural strengths - most likely coincident with your:
- Focus (organizational, strategic, people-oriented)
- Approach (managing and leading)
- Level of involvement and role
- Level of professional experience (scale, business segment, geographical scope)
When candidates need to be more specific, I always ask for details; your interviewers will ask too. Prepare your answers beforehand. Bullet points help enormously to have a spontaneous yet straightforward interview.
Question 2: When you had to make a difficult decision, what was this decision about?
Keynote: Strategic decision making, What was complicated about it? Was it difficult for you? How did you identify it was difficult for somebody else? How did you approach that? Good examples are those referring to change management and:
- Business streamlining
- Team functioning
- People management
Complementary questions: Because CEOs often lead regional or local offices, recruiters will be after your local specifics, as concrete as possible:
- How was it agreed upon on a global scale?
- How did the headquarters support you?
- How did you support the global organization?
- How did you implement change? Did you implement everything?
- What did you learn in that process?
Your answers reveal: This is about you encompassing the whole. How you decide and prioritize to streamline the business, containing top line and bottom results with future vision and local specifics in a given situation.
Question 3: What personality trait would you like to develop during your journey in the new role?
Keynote: Personality. Strengths and weaknesses revealed during the job interview for CEO and top management level are crucial for selecting the final candidate.
Complementary questions: Most executive search agencies present a pre-selection of three portfolios to the company, and personality/culture are often the differential points:
- Are you a strategist or a practical person?
- Do your focus and approach coincide with your natural strengths?
- How good are you at emotional intelligence?
- Are you a great crisis manager?
- Do you excel at evaluating risks?
Your answers reveal: How you handle situations and match the company's culture.
There are no good or wrong answers here. However, you can make a difference by being very clear about your personality traits and how they best serve that specific company and position. Can you articulate yours in a way that's valuable to others and aligned with your authentic style?
If you want a clear framework to communicate your strengths (and be aware of your bias before others do), I recommend you learn about the PCM Personality Model and take your test.
Question 4: How do you enjoy life outside your job?
Keynote: Work-life balance. This question concerns you and how you spend your day - though you will never be asked that way. It's about your hobbies, traveling, and the cultures you enjoy. Interviewers will ask and then wait for examples.
Complementary questions: How do you see yourself enjoying life outside the office? Do you have other activities or projects besides those business related? You may think about lecturing at universities and collaborating with associations.
Your answers reveal: Besides sensing whether you're a good cultural match, they may also gain insights about your mobility and openness to relocation (if you enjoy other countries or continents). I also get insights about candidates:
- Personality
- Lifestyle
- Alignment with the new role you're applying for
Question 5: What was your most difficult challenge, and how did you approach it?
Keynote: Key successes and failures. I ask candidates about the most difficult challenge or project they work on, then translate that to critical hits and success factors so that I can get a picture of how they understand success for that specific project.
Complementary questions:
- What do you consider a success?
- How do you understand success?
- How do you deal with failure?
- How do you manage losses in your professional life?
- How did you tackle failures in your personal life?
- How do you identify solutions?
- How long does it take for you to re-energize?
- How do you celebrate?
Your answers reveal: Your levels of adaptability, how you function under pressure, whether you are a hyper achiever or a perfectionist; whether you quickly doubt yourself; you´re satisfied with what you get; or you turn failures into learning opportunities. And also: whether you practice what you preach.
These personality traits are essential for the functioning of the team. For instance, some managers never celebrate because results are never good enough. Others acknowledge it but never make time for celebration. Or they fall hard on failures. They do the same to themselves, which speaks about their self-worth and leadership style.
Question 6: What do you bring to the leadership team?
Keynote: Your understanding of the role and the company's culture. Candidates often describe their motivation, values, and why they connect to the job, the company, and the industry.
Complementary questions:
- Why are you applying for this job?
- What is your motivation for this open position?
- Why is vision so important?
- Why is this so important to you?
- At which level and how do you want to make an impact?
- How do you build relationships and strong connections, internally and externally?
Your answers reveal: Whether you understand the position at length, the organization's structure, the importance of relationships, and whether you're a cultural fit.
From your answers, I also understand if you're more of a visionary person explaining global impact, a future-oriented person speaking about the effect, the team, and the organization you'll create. Or, if you're more of an operational person, explain how achievements will benefit the organization.
What questions will I be asked in an executive interview? Summary:
- CHANGE MANAGEMENT: Do you have a great example of how you manage and lead change? Display your natural strengths.
- DECISION MAKING: When you had to make a difficult decision, what was this decision about? Reveal how you encompass the whole.
- PROFILE STRENGTHS: Showcase which type of manager you are, i.e., more of a business developer, a crisis manager, or someone leveraging organic growth.
- WORK-LIFE BALANCE: How do you enjoy life outside your job? Share how you manage pressure and stress.
- KEY SUCCESSES AND FAILURES: What was the most difficult challenge you faced? They will learn about biases in behavior, decision-making, personality traits, and leadership style.
- MOTIVATION AND RELATIONSHIP BUILDING: What do you bring, and why are you applying for this job? Let them see your deep understanding of the role, organization, culture, and impact you believe you can make
How do you answer executive-level interview questions?
coach them until they develop a well-founded explanation that gives them confidence and showcases reality. This process is part of my preparation as an executive search expert and something you can try out.
How will interviewers read your answers?
I can say this about every interviewer, but I'm trying to get the applicant's understanding, approach, and final result.
Applicants give a lot of information on what they say and how they structure their answers in an executive job interview.
The CAR approach is a good structure - use it to prepare for your interview beforehand:
- Challenge: describe the specific challenge you were facing.
- Action: the plan you had and the particular actions you undertook.
- Result: the specific results of your actions.
Prepare good questions for the interviewers: be proactive.
Recruiters and the company will ask very focused questions to you; as a candidate, you need to do the same.
Asking questions is your chance to get as much information as possible that is not publicly displayed and affects you and your decision.
Good questions are about: the role; the company; the strategy; the culture. Please, nothing like “What is the next step in the process” or “Do you see me as a good candidate”!
Questions you might ask:
- What is understood as the biggest past failure in this role?
- What is the company’s strategy in the field of people development?
- How fit is the company for the future, in sense of product/service portfolio, industry positioning?
How do companies select the best fit during a CEO and top management executive interview?
A big part of the final decision concerns the cultural match and the ability to drive the company’s long-term strategy.
I usually have two to three matching candidates at the end of the search and selection process. That means they all meet the requirements and responsibilities of the role, and their personality matches the company's culture.
What is then the decision the company makes and why?
It's in the personality and the leadership style where the most significant difference lies. The best fit is the person that matches the culture, values, and chemistry with the direct manager, the board, or the owners.
You can't and should never fake this, no matter how much you desire the position. However, you can prepare to shine as best during the interview. I strongly recommend you do.
Overconfidence and hidden vulnerability are two things that erode CEOs and top managers during executive interviews. Now that you have the information, step back and consider where you excel and where you could reach out for support. My consultation hour is always open to answer questions and guide you through.
I'm the founder of BOC Institute, one of the renowned consulting and executive search agencies for international companies operating in Slovenia and South-East Europe.
I coach CEOs and top managers 1:1 worldwide. I'm here to save you time, energy, and money through your objectives, decision-making, and leadership development. I understand we can change the world one coaching session at a time!
Do you feel like having a call? You can reach out here and let me guide you from there.
Simona Špilak www.simonaspilak.com
