Top Notch Executive Interviews: How to Strategically Deal With Recruiters, Search Firms, Boards of Directors, Panels, Presentations, Pre-Interviews, and Other High-Stress Situations [Paperback]

Katharine Hansen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 2009

In these turbulent times, the job-interview game is more convoluted than ever for executives. They face a longer interview process, must demonstrate a vision to meet the prospective employer's challenges, and will undergo intense vetting before receiving a job offer. Top Notch Executive Interviews reveals what employers really want and expect to see in executive candidate interview behavior and content. The book's coverage of the executive interview difference, its case studies of senior-level managers in sticky interview situations, and its broad collection of hiring decision-maker interview peeves and preferences make it the must-have companion volume to Top Notch Executive Resumes.

This vital book includes an insightful examination of critical differences that distinguish executive-level interviews from all others, along with extensive information on leveraging relationships with recruiters, plentiful sample interview questions and suggested responses, and a comprehensive list of sample questions to ask the interviewer.

Special additional features include:

* Detailed tips on how to land an interview and conduct pre-interview research.

* The importance of nonverbal behavior and attire.

* A thorough guide to interview formats.

* An interviewing checklist.

* A chapter on tricky interview situations.

* A directory of executive-interview coaches.

* Post-interview chapters covering thank-yous, follow-ups, references, vetting, and background checks, plus negotiating and weighing job offers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Katharine Hansen, PhD, creative director and associate publisher of Quintessential Careers, is an educator, eight-time author/coauthor, and blogger who earned her PhD in organizational behavior from Union Institute & University. Hansen holds the designations Credentialed Career Manager and Master Resume Writer from the Career Management Alliance. Her books, including Top Notch Executive Resumes, and hundreds of articles focus on career and college topics, including cover letters, resumes, networking, and writing skills. She has extensively researched employment interviewing and published on the topic in academic journals and in the popular press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: Career Press; 1 edition (October 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1601630840
• ISBN-13: 978-1601630841
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,987 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Quintessential Careers' Creative Director Katharine Hansen is an author and instructor, in addition to being a career expert. Her books include Dynamic Cover Letters (more than 100,000 copies sold) and Write Your Way to a Higher GPA, written with Dr. Randall S. Hansen, as well as Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates (12,000+ copies sold) and most recently, A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market, all published by Ten Speed Press.

Katharine (Kathy) has completed a rigorous credentialing process to become a Master Resume Writer, as approved by Career Masters Institute (CMI).



Katharine also holds the Career Masters Institute's Credentialed Career Master (CCM) designation.


In her sixth year as lecturer in business communication at Stetson University, DeLand, FL, Katharine has taught the writing of resumes and cover letters and critiqued the job-search correspondence of countless college students. Katharine also is editor of QuintZine, a free career and job-hunting newsletter filled with timely and topical tips for springboarding careers.

Katharine is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in organizational communication from Union Institute and University, Cincinnati, OH.

Katharine was writer-editor at numerous newspapers, magazines and nonprofit organizations, and she served as speechwriter for the first woman elected to the Florida Cabinet. Katharine, who earned her bachelor of arts degree in humanities from Stetson University, lives in DeLand with her writing partner, Randall, and children, Mary and John.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive guide to executive interviews, May 10, 2010

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Notch Executive Interviews: How to Strategically Deal With Recruiters, Search Firms, Boards of Directors, Panels, Presentations, Pre-Interviews, and Other High-Stress Situations (Paperback)

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration does not send anyone into space who is not superbly qualified. The U.S. Navy selects only the toughest individuals for its formidable Seals training program. The most brilliant high school students battle to win full scholarships to Harvard. Similarly, job candidates for executive positions go through a far more intense vetting process than normal employees before they get hired. The costs of hiring, retaining and losing executives is higher, so companies have to get recruitment right. For the candidate, these multiple interviews are by far the most challenging part of the process. You may possess stunning professional credentials and a terrific work record, but they won't help if you cannot handle being on the receiving end of executive job interviews. In this valuable, information-packed - though not especially innovative - guide for businesspeople, employment expert Katharine Hansen discusses what interviewers look for in executive candidates, what questions they ask and how you should answer them to get hired. getAbstract considers this book a very practical resource for individuals who want to win top-level executive positions.