Winning in Interviews - Part One

Winning in Interviews - Part One

The first in a series of articles by The Times, Spectator, Guardian and Independent journalist Maggie Pagano, detailing the rules of interviewing well with a headhunter.

Would David Cameron get the nod from a headhunter?  

Would David Cameron have become Conservative party leader if members voting for him had known he scored C in his maths O-level? Cameron’s maths grade was not his only poor result. As he described himself, in his recent memoir, For The Record, his O-levels were ‘mediocre.’ Considering he had enjoyed one of best educations that money could buy, the result was doubly disappointing.

But executive search specialist, Lindsay Leslie-Miller, says Cameron would have made it to the top of British politics whether party members had known of his poor Maths results or not. 

She points out that the former Prime Minister went on to achieve a first at Oxford. 

More pertinently, by the time he was chosen for leadership, Cameron was tracking well ahead of his peers. “That is the point - and it is that progress we as search executives are looking at in our candidates. By his late 20s, he was flying.”
 

"we would never assume that great academic qualifications mean a great business leader"

Where Cameron would have come a cropper, says Leslie-Miller, is if he had told fibs about his early academic achievements. “That would have been a disaster." 

“Whether you have had a high-flying academic career - or risen without formal qualifications - by the time most people are in their late 20s, the stars have distinguished themselves - whatever their background." What is essential is that a headhunter is forensic in their scrutiny, she says.  “We have many candidates with firsts from Oxford - or other top institutions  - on their CVs but that does not necessarily mean that they are outstanding when it comes to business.”

"We would never assume that great academic qualifications mean a great business leader.  What we are looking for is a combination of intellect and leadership. It’s not often that someone has both.” 

So the first rule for any candidate is to be honest and direct with the search firm. If a candidate has not had a glittering academic career or taken a career break - maybe because they have had to care for a family relative or for any other reasons - they should say so up front.  

If they don’t, a good headhunter will always find out. Dissembling is a black mark says Dan Cottee, a Director at Hunter-Miller: “We would always be suspicious if a candidate doesn’t properly explain a gap in their career or fumble over bad results or poor performance.”
 

"we are looking for a combination of intellect and leadership. It's not often that someone has both"

“You can tell with how they deal with the question: their posture or speech cadence might change, or they may seek to change topic. We can tease dissembling out. So it’s always far better for the candidate to be up front and explain themselves.” Cottee adds: “It is evasion that will set off the alarm bells."