Views from the vantage point of a CFO Hiring Specialist

This article shares insights from a CFO hiring specialist, focusing on the subtle factors that impact CFO selection. It offers practical tips for candidates to improve interview performance and stand out as leaders.

Views from the vantage point of a CFO Hiring Specialist Over the last 20 years, I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with CFOs and observing them in interviews. Going forward, I’ll be sharing insights to help candidates and clients. In this article, I’m exploring the role of invisibles in CFO selection, based on a recent mandate for a listed pharma firm. The CEO interviewed two vetted CFO candidates. Candidate A took ~35 minutes to introduce himself, was not reading the room, dominated the conversation, leaving the CEO unable to engage, resulting in rejection due to perceived lack of leadership. Candidate B, on the other hand, created a two-way dialogue, kept testing at critical junctures on whether he should go deep on certain points, building trust and credibility, and the CEO left the room confident. Both were equally fit for the role, but the invisibles ensured the second one was taken ahead. In my experience, more senior the role, more is the importance attached to the leadership quotient or the invisibles. If you are likely to be interviewing for a CFO role, it would be worthwhile to remember the following: Do’s

• ‘Own’ the conversation’s space and outcomes - be present in the conversation, influence at critical junctures
• Engage with the interviewer and build a larger “experience" - ask, clarify, test assumptions
• Reinforce focus if it drifts - but if the conversation gets stuck at a point, guide it past that
• Use pauses effectively - to gather thoughts as well as enable others to put their thoughts together

And, don’t's:

• Get caught up in your own answers
• Make assumptions—clarify when needed.
• Ignore signals (e.g., looking down, asking pointed questions) from the panel. No matter how the interview goes, a good turnaround always brings credit, so dont lose the nerve if things seem to get rough

These are simple and quick to enumerate, but takes a lifetime to learn and refine! Happy reading Article by Saroja Ramadhurai Co-founder and CFO lead at Resource bridge