by Chenay Jordan

Created on: August 18, 2008   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

In today's economy, avoiding a costly executive mis-hire is paramount to a company's success. With the plethora of information available to interviewers searching for an ideal candidate, it can be difficult to decipher what interviewing strategies or techniques will actually aide in finding the right candidate for you.

Compiled here are the Top 9 strategies for conducting effective executive interviews.

1) Don't provide candidates with a generalized or "boiler plate" (Smart, 26) job description. Many interviewers make the mistake of simply taking the bullet points they have listed on the job description and making questions out of them.
Dr. Brad Smart, author of "Avoid Costly Mis-Hires!" and creator of the "Topgrading" system says that a detailed, coherent job description that makes it clear to the candidates what is expected of them. He suggests one aspect of the job description should be laying out for the candidate a set of first-year performance goals.
The interview questions should allow the candidate to interconnect the job description with situations that may arise in the new position as well as asking to the candidate to provide examples of previous experience with the same situation.
This strategy also allows interviewers and candidates to bring up points on the candidate's resume that may be worth discussing.

John Heckers, of Heckers Development Group, LTD in Cherry Creek, Colorado addresses the innovative trend of "Stress Interviewing" in his blog post: "Executive Interview Strategies for Success." Even though Heckers is an executive transition coach and his blog suggests tips for the candidate, not the employer, his insightful view of this type of interview strategy suggests that some or all of the elements can be ideal for helping the interviewer choose the right candidate.

2) The Interrupting Strategy a questioning strategy in which the interviewer continually interrupts the candidate is intended to "rattle an executive's cage," (Heckers) but often ends up turning into a "power struggle" between the interviewer and the candidate.
If choosing to use this strategy be aware that it can actually have two negative effects on the candidate.
Heckers says, "Executives are used to being heard, so they will typically "talk over" the interruption."
While obviously a candidate's interruption is ill-advised because it makes them look power hungry, a candidate who does not interrupt runs the risk of possibly looking like a "wimpy executive" (Heckers).
However,

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