If you are approaching the process of interviewing candidates for a CEO position, then you’ve come to the right place. Interviewing CEO candidates is difficult. At this stage, the candidates are polished. Answers sound as good as their resume looks. It is important to ask the right questions to get to the stuff that really matters: cultural alignment, functional expertise and all the intangibles beyond the resume.
Here are 8 targeted CEO interview questions to uncover the true character of your candidate.
1. Describe the commonalities and themes on your career path. Why did you make the moves that you did?
This CEO interview question provides insight into what the candidate values in their career. It also shows what they base their decisions on. Did they make a career leap because of a certain piece of information? An experience? Get to the bottom of their career decisions and you’ll have insight into how they’ll make decisions as the CEO of an organization.
2. What is more important: being loved or respected?
There is no right answer here. It simply shows the leadership style of how they treat their employees.
3. Which chess piece do you use the most and why?
If they don’t play chess, switch up the metaphor. But the point remains: they are defending their leadership techniques through a simplified example.
4. What is one lasting impact that you hope to leave on this company?
This question should carry a lot of weight. It really gets to the heart of why they want to work for you and what they hope to get out of it. When you hear their answer, think about their career path and their career decisions. Have what they done in the past align with the impact they hope to make in the future? If not, question them further on why they have not demonstrated this motivation in the past.
5. How do you utilize the talent in your organization?
Hiring and cultivating talent is one of the primary responsibilities of a CEO. It’s their job to ensure every employee is motivated in working towards the goals of an organization. A great candidate should be able to communicate their philosophies on talent and share how they would utilize the existing talent in your organization.
6. How do you allow ideas to flow through the chain of command?
A great leader knows that they are not the smartest person in the room and that their employees all have valuable knowledge that can advance the organization. Explore how they encourage a transparent and open workplace to enable great ideas to surface.
7. How do your peers and employees descriptions of you differ?
If you get along well with your equals, but the team you manage has an entirely different opinion, that says something about their leadership.
8. Name a CEO that you try to emulate.
Knowing what type of leader they admire will give you insight on their priorities.
Your CEO needs to be a transformational leader. Asking these CEO interview questions in your evaluation process will help you go beyond the resume to discover your true candidate.
TruPath helps organizations find culturally aligned talent. Contact our team today to learn how we may be able to assist you in hiring a CEO.