Seven years ago, a friend asked Executive Interview Coaching founder Richard Elstone if he could help him with his CV and interview preparation for an executive role.
Richard had worked as an executive search consultant for 30-plus years, so he knew exactly what HR departments and executives were looking for. He’d seen countless CVs and interviewed thousands of people. Naturally, he agreed to help his friend.
With Richard’s coaching, his friend landed the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role and later, his wife said to Richard, “If it weren’t for you, it might have been a different outcome. You need to do this for other executives.”
It proved to be one of those serendipitous moments in life. Shortly afterwards, Executive Interview Coaching was born.
Since then, Richard has helped more than 300 aspiring executives and non-executives to land their dream appointments, from ASX-listed executive director roles to prestigious board positions. Importantly, he’s also advised clients when NOT to take a role, and instead to hold out for another appointment that’s more likely to get them to their ultimate destination.
Here, Richard sheds a light on just a few of Executive Interview Coaching’s success stories.
The ASX-listed Chief Executive Officer
This particular client was the General Manager of his company. An executive search firm had been engaged to find a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The search consultant shortlisted four candidates, while Richard’s client and another colleague at a similar level both put up their hands.
“He said to me, ‘Richard, if I’m honest, I’m probably lying sixth out of 6 for this role,” recalls Richard.
“He said, ‘I never interview well. Can you help me,’ and so I did.”
Richard spent several coaching sessions finetuning his client’s vision for the company.
“I thought it was important, particularly at the CEO level, to have a clear vision for the company,” said Richard.
“I then helped him with the interview process, breaking it down into several areas.
“He needed to interview a particular way for the search consultant, then in a different way for each of the subsequent interviews with the existing CEO, HR and finally the Chair.
“He got down to the final two candidates, and then he had to do a presentation to the board. He hates presentations, but I helped him strategise it, critiqued it and then we did a dry run.”
The outcome:
The client went from feeling like he was the least likely candidate to get the role, to actually being offered it. He is now the CEO of a billion dollar ASX-listed company.
The state government executive director
This client had spent three years in acting executive director roles lasting anywhere from 3 – 6 months each. However, when it came to interviewing for a permanent executive director role, he didn’t perform well. He was unsure what questions were going to come up and disliked panel interview as they made him nervous.
He engaged Richard as an executive interview coach and they began preparing for a newly created Executive Director role.
“I broke down the job specification into bite-sized chunks. I got him to think of examples for each of the key selection criteria and explained that the answers he had thought of could be used for multiple types of interview questions. I even put him through a mock interview,” said Richard.
“By the end of it, he told me it was the first time he’d ever felt confident and fully prepared for the interview process.”
The outcome:
The client landed his first permanent executive director role in state government. “He was thrilled,” said Richard. “He almost had tears in his eyes.”
The Chief People Officer
Having previously worked for sizeable financial institutions, this client had been out of work for 12 months. Every time she sent out her CV, she wasn’t getting an interview, so she sought Richard’s help.
“Together, we revamped her CV and made it much more attractive to search consultants and companies,” he said.
“At the end of the day, people hire candidates at an executive level because of the difference they have made to their previous organisation. This person’s CV didn’t really reflect her achievements in that regard, and it lacked substance.
“We then transformed her LinkedIn profile.”
From there, the client was approached by one of the major educational institutions to be their Chief People Officer.
“She hadn’t had any experience in the education sector, so we strategized on that,” said Richard.
“We broke everything down for the interview process. She was one of five people interviewed, and ended up being in the top two.
“For the final interview with the Vice Chancellor, we knew we had to change our tactics, so I helped her prepare.”
The outcome:
The client was offered the role of Chief People Officer in an exciting sector that was new to her – education.
The General Manager
The client had been acting as General Manager for 12 months. She was referred to Richard to help her with the application process, CV and cover letter.
“She told me that no acting person in the previous three years had been offered a permanent role,” said Richard.
“She was not convinced that the hiring manager wanted her in the role. He had somebody else in mind from his old employer.
“She was up against some very stiff external competition, but I helped her prepare for several different interviews.
“The first was with a panel of people who were general managers outside of her area. There was another interview with HR to find out about her leadership skills, and the final one was with the hiring manager and the managing director.
“We knew my client had a reputation of being nice, so we had to prepare examples of how she could push back.”
The outcome:
The client was offered the role of General Manager. It was the first time in three years an existing acting person was appointed into this role.
Like to know more?
Richard has helped hundreds of executives to land their dream positions, and he can help you, too. The vast majority of his clients are in government or finance and banking, but he also assists executives in manufacturing, technology, health and retail/fast-moving consumer goods.
“I understand what search consultants are looking for, what interview questions are likely to come up and what sounds good on a CV and during the interview process,” said Richard.
“Storytelling is what it’s all about. My clients have the answers, it’s just a case of getting it out of them and coming up with real-life examples to understand what they’ve done.
“I love helping talented executives to figure out what they want to do and then keeping them on track to ensure they end up landing that role. It’s very rewarding to know that you can change people’s lives.”
To find out more, get in touch today.