Speaker 1: Question for you, do you have a second interview coming up with the hiring manager's manager or possibly even higher up than that, small company, could be a CEO? If so, definitely stay tuned for this video as this is what I'm going to cover today. So if you are new here to my channel, my name is Bill Benoist. I'm a certified professional career coach in Silicon Valley. Primarily work with individuals and mid to late career professionals, that is, and this is a very common occurrence, is interviewing with the next level up. This is a second interview and there's a couple of ways that I want you to think about preparing for this interview. So number one, and I've talked about this in previous videos, your resume is what validated your competence, right? They get on the phone with you, they do a phone screen, they're still validating your competence, but when it actually goes for the interview, it's becoming a little bit more about compatibility than it is about competence. They're still going to ask you some questions, you know, regarding the competence of the position, but it really becomes more about compatibility and that is never more so true than when you are interviewing at a higher level. I mean, think about this, if you're interviewing as a project manager, as a software engineer, as a financial analyst, whatever it is, and you're interviewing with a CEO, do you think they're going to really understand your job that much? And it's often true even with just one level up from the hiring manager, because although they may be that overall department manager, they don't really understand the nitty-gritty and they're going to understand that you will know more than they do about it. So, there's really not a lot you can prepare for as far as like technical or operational questions, but there are ways that you can prepare for this interview and that is understanding the compatibility and really getting engaged with that person that's interviewing you. So, I want you to think about this in two different lights. There's two different kinds of individuals that will be interviewing you at this level. One would be what I would say, somebody who likes to be the center of attention, and the other person who doesn't like to be the center of attention. So, what do I mean by this? Center of attention, it means that they really enjoy talking, not necessarily about themselves, but they enjoy being the conversationalist, and if this is the case, what you want to be doing is number one, never interrupt them, but listen and ask questions that they will have an enjoyable time answering for you. So, it could be about the business, it could be about their position, they enjoy talking, but then there's going to be others that really they want to listen, okay, they don't want to be the center of attention, and this is where you can share with them some really good stories out there of what you've done before. Let's say you were in customer service, maybe some juicy stories about, you know, a difficult customer that you had, or a really, in fact, I scratch that, I don't want you to talk about difficult customers. Think about one of the best customers that you ever worked with, because they like to hear positive things, not negative things out there. You know, project manager, you know, an example of something that really went well, you know, you don't have to get into the details of such, but they're going to be interested in just hearing this story if it's an engaging story. So, you can kind of judge right when you go in there if this person is going to be one who likes to be the center of attention. Again, you're going to ask them engaging questions about the business, about the company, which means that you want to study and learn as much as you can, not only about the company, but make sure you take a look at their LinkedIn profile and learn as much as you can about them at LinkedIn as well. You know, hey, I see that you went to Harvard for an MBA. I bet that was a fascinating school to go to. Boy, if this person is someone who likes to be the center of attention, they're really going to enjoy answering that question. It's a process of getting engaged, okay? Remember, your resume validated your competence, the phone screen validated your competence. You had the interview with the manager. It becomes a little bit more about compatibility, but also they'll ask you a few questions about your competence, but now at this higher level, it really becomes more about compatibility than anything else. So, either this person is going to be wanting to talk or they're going to want to listen, and if there's somebody that likes to listen and you don't talk a lot, it's probably not going to go your way. So, you want to make sure that you have some good stories prepared, you know, in advance because they may ask you a couple of questions. They're not going to be really deep questions, but they could be behavioral type of questions and they're going to be really engaged with the answer that you give them. So, I hope this video was informative and useful for you. If you haven't already subscribed to this channel, make sure that you do so as I do upload new career tips and strategies every Tuesday and I'd hate for you to miss anything. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing you next week.