Interviewing Strategies for Security Jobs

Winning a Global Director of Security, Policies, Procedures and Compliance requires a well-executed interview strategy from start-to-finish.

A Chief Compliance officer whom the job reports to explained what separated the chosen candidate from the rest of the candidate pool.  Here were the keys that enabled the chosen security job candidate to win the job.

Nailing an Interview…. what the winning security job candidate did well:

Asked great questions! Interviewers judge the interviewee by the quality of their questions during the interview   I’ve been suggesting this to candidates for years as I prepare them for interviews. My Chief Compliance Officer client pointed out that the candidate who stood out from the rest of the interview group asked the most compelling, business focused questions.

Approached the interview discussion as if he were a member of the team. This interview process was defined by a group interview.   One candidate speaking to a group of six interviewers made for an uncomfortable situation for all candidates. The chosen candidate did a great job of capturing the group’s attention by engaging everyone in the group and asking questions of the team so they felt as if he were already collaborating with them just like he would be if he were on the job. In other words, he projected himself into the job and immediately  treated those on the interview team as his teammates .

Knew when to say….”I don’t know but I’m willing to learn”. The chosen candidate knew his weaknesses and strengths   and wasn’t afraid to admit when a topic wasn’t his area of expertise. Other candidates attempted to tackle issues that were not in their areas of expertise. More often than not, you’ll gain more respect from the interview team when you freely admit what you don’t know as much as you talk about what you do know.

Answered questions directly. The chosen candidate did a great job of answering direct questions with direct answers. Other candidates were vague when they answered questions according to the Chief Compliance Officer.    Every interview process you’ll encounter will be different from the last one in some way.  The best you can do to prepare for an interview is to know yourself, know how to articulate your accomplishments, know what isn’t your expertise, ask great questions and be honest.   The chosen candidate did all of these things well.    So well in fact that he was the only candidate of interest when all interviews had completed.   Hopefully this real feedback that came to me directly  from a hiring official can be helpful to you the next time you have the opportunity to interview for a new security job.

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