Considering Career Changes
- Considering a change for a mid-career executive is a critical and often daunting decision, which requires a conscientious and well thought out assessment.
Like many things in life, a good opportunity may come when you’re least expecting or prepared for it. Or the sudden need to change may be a result of corporate decisions entirely out of your hands. Or it might be entirely your initiative, for a new environment or challenge.
Whatever the impetus prompting your consideration to explore, it is important to understand your own personal drivers and motivations, so you can responsibly manage the change and seize on the right opportunity when it presents itself.
Evaluating Your Motivations
- Understanding your own motivations is the 1st step in discerning if a new opportunity offers the improvements you seek.
What are your motivations to considering a change?
Are there frustrations in your current organization which impedes your ability to perform? Are you looking for better learning opportunities, a new platform to stretch your capabilities, a foray into a new segment?
What is the attraction of the new role?
What are the challenges and benefits that the new opportunity can offer to your career? Does this new role fit into your longer term career objectives?
To what extent do you fit the role? Where are the gaps?
Unlike new entrants, a mid career executive has to weigh the opportunity costs and risks associated with moving from the current company versus the potential benefits that a new organisation or role might offer.
Hence taking stock of the experience and capabilities you can leverage on, and evaluating it against the anticipated learning curve you will have to embark on, is a good starting point.
Is this the right time, personally and professionally to embark on a change?
Are there heavy commitments at this time in your life that will impede your ability to effectively embark on a new career? An MBA, a new addition to the family, a recent change in your spouse’s career?
Whilst these personal or family issues are rarely the first thing that comes to mind in considering a change, they may become a challenge especially if the new role requires a heavy commitment in time or travelling. Ensure you have the commitment and support to take on the change.
All things considered if the opportunity has the prospect of fulfilling the aspirations you seek, then exploring the opportunity is an investment worth making.
Approaching the Process
- Hiring for a role is a serious and time consuming effort for both the candidate and employer. There are always risks in change, both for the employer and the employee. The last thing anyone would want is a failed hire 3 months into the job.
This is where the interview process provides an invaluable forum for an open, 2 way interaction to ascertain suitability in terms of skills, experience, expectations, chemistry and corporate fit.
Approach the process in a considerate and professional manner.
Remember, even if you or they decide not to tie the knot, the process would have expanded your network and allowed you the opportunity to present yourself professionally. A business deal or another offer could well materialise in the future. At the very least, your professional reputation is worth maintaining.
Evaluate & Re-evaluate.
Bear in mind, the typical interview process comprises of at least 2 – 4 rounds of discussions, and most companies will share additional confidential information only at the later stages, when they have shortlisted the candidates with the higher potential to meet their expectations.
Hence, it is important to use each discussion as a forum to gain further information, evaluate and reconfirm your fit and interest to the company and role.
Manage the Interview.
Most candidates, even senior managers, are not professional interviewees. Most Hiring Managers are not professional interviewers (they actually have full-time day jobs!). As such, managing the interview process is an important responsibility for any candidate.
Preparing for the Interview
- Noted below are some basic pointers in interview preparation.
Evaluate your own reasons for exploring the opportunity.
This was covered in the first section. Doing so will help you ascertain your own motivations and discern if a new role fulfils the aspirations you seek.
Review and recap on your own career history and moves.
A typical interview would require the interviewer to go through your career history to evaluate your experiences, strengths and weaknesses. It only makes sense for you to be clear on your own history, sales targets, headcounts, achievements, etc, even if it was “so many years ago”.
Most managers would also want to know your decisions for previously moving companies, in order to understand your commitment and thinking process, and to assure themselves that you have the staying power to see through any difficult situations.
Review your achievements and contributions to the company.
Whilst many of us are uncomfortable with blowing our own horn, this is important information for an interviewer to assess your fit to their role.
An easy approach to manage this is to factually and concisely state the facts as you share each stage of your career during the interviews. For example:
- State the Background Challenges in each company - eg poor sales results
- Your Evaluation - eg identified conflicting channel network and poorly trained sales team
- Your Initiative - eg segmented market, realigned channel partners, identified new partners, set KPIs and agreed mutual terms; provided structured training to sales team; and
- Impact on the Problem - eg achieved better channel support, penetrated new segments, more competent sales team, increased pipelines and revenues by % within 9 months.
Review your weaknesses honestly.
If there were poor decisions or a period of failure in your career, make sure you are mentally prepared to tackle the queries.
Remember that although a failure may be in part due to challenges outside your control, eg, a poor economy, a bad management, weak operations support etc, this is not the forum for blaming.
Be matter of fact if the challenge was out of your control but
Take responsibility if the mistake was yours
Highlight what Initiatives you took to mitigate or manage these challenges where possible, and share how you have benefited from lessons learnt.
Keep in mind that in most senior positions, no role is smooth sailing and the interviewer is very likely seeking candidates who have the maturity and determination to take initiative and accountability in managing challenging situations which may well exist in the new company.
Prepare your Key Messages.
Based on the challenge and responsibilities of the new role, prioritise 4-5 Key Initiatives or Achievements that you would wish to highlight, normally at the tail-end of your your interview. The purpose is to enable the interviewers to understand how you can add value to their organization, and differentiate yourself from the other candidates.
These Key Messages could well be used for questions such as “What are your thoughts on your ability to take on this challenge?”, “Do you think you’d be a good candidate for this mandate? The Key Messages would essentially be what you’d want the interviewers to remember about you, above anything else.
Consider your experience and track record versus the job specifications.
Bear in mind, it is likely you are exploring this new opportunity as it offers a bigger portfolio or additional challenges compared to the current one. As such, there may be gaps in your experience which you will need to overcome.
Identify these gaps, consider how you intend to tackle them, and whether you will realistically be able to manage these stretched objectives.
These will be the same questions on the minds of the interviewers.
Do your Research into the Company.
A good background knowledge of the potential employer is a key component of a well managed interview. Basic information like the products, markets, presence, P&L and the competitive space in which it operates is readily available in today’s information age and provides you with the starting point to ask relevant and intelligent questions.
If your network of contact also provides you with grapevine information, take note of these details but be sure not to make hasty assumptions. If important enough, the veracity of these may be clarified at the appropriate point during the interview.
Identify a few Key Questions
Note down critical questions that will be important in helping you decide if the new role and company is relevant to your experience and exciting as a new prospect. Some examples:
- How did this vacancy come about. Replacement, newly created, succession planning?
- What is the key priorities, territorial scope, business focus of the company and this position?
- Where does the role fit within the company structure? Who is the direct manager and reports? Who are the key people that the role will have to interface with?
- What is the corporate culture and management philosophy?
- What are the challenges that the role is likely to face, internally and externally.
- What are the expectations and performance measurements of the role.
- What is the company’s strategy in dealing with current consolidation in market, advent of new technology, new competitors, cost pressures etc.
Presentation and Engagement during Interview
- If you consider that for any vacancy there will be at least a few external (and internal) contenders for the job, then it should be your objective to ensure that your discussion is impactful, and that the interviewers leave the meeting with a good and lasting impression.
Conduct & Presence
Dress professionally and appropriately and arrive 10 minutes before time so you are calm and collected. Whilst dress code may differ between industries, smart business attire would be a basic requirement. Although the interviewer’s role is to probe beyond appearances, a good first impression is a good start to any discussion.Interview Interaction
Conduct yourself in an open, professional and friendly manner to all parties, not just the interviewers. Remember, the occasion is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your interpersonal skills - the interview may have begun even before you arrived into the meeting room.
Body language is important. Maintain eye contact with all interviewers, keep a good posture and an open presence. Whilst many people start off in this manner, some may become too relaxed once they warm up or defensive when a sensitive topic is discussed. Be mindful.
Remember, you typically have only 45-90 minutes to make a lasting impact. This is where your earlier preparation comes in handy.
Listen - with your ears and your eyes. Be observant not just to the words being said but the emphasis placed on topics and sometimes the interaction between interviewers.Closure & Follow UP
Let the Interviewer take the lead even if you are significantly more senior or if the interviewer is the gatekeeper and not the decision maker. Everyone has a role to play in the process, don’t let your seniority be a stumbling block.
Keep your answers relevant and to the point. Elaborate on details only if the interviewer takes the topic further.
Be honest, don’t embellish. It is better for the interviewer to recruit you as you are accepting the gaps you might have.
Adapt your communication style in accordance to the profile of the interviewer. For example, you might speak about the same experience slightly differently, if the interviewer is the MD, Technical Head or HR, in order for the interviewer to better appreciate what you’ve done.
Key Messages. If not already covered in the earlier questions, find the opportunity to highlight those 4 – 5 Key Messages (discussed in earlier section), so the interviewers can understand your ability to leverage your experience and add value to the new role.
Ask Relevant Questions that you had previously noted and which were not already covered. Avoid Asking Questions on Compensation until a later stage. However if asked, provide your numbers as accurately as possible.
Regardless of how the discussion went, close off the discussion in a professional manner and follow up with a short email, thanking the interviewers for their time.
