How to position myself in interviews (experienced hire)

Question

Hi guys, I'd like to listen to your advice. I am applying for an experienced hire role (I have an MBA degree+several years of financial industry work experience). Based on my understanding, experienced hires are hired as "generalist role". However, I feel that the project type & covered industry still highly depends on ones' previous background and experience.

As the local office focuses on financial services industry (~50% of revenue), I am thinking how to position myself - should I strongly highlight my experience in the financial industry sector? However, I am not interested in pure financial industry track, which is more about digitalization, transformation, regulatory, etc. I am more interested in growth / entry / M&A type of projects. How do I keep the dialogue open - using my financial industry experience as a differentiator against other applicants, while still being flexible to explore other industries and practices (such as corporate finance practice) if I manage to get th offer? Appreciate your advice.

Answer 1

Hi there,

Well, in a way you've sort of answered this question yourself.

It's clear you're thinking about how to walk the line here - and that's exactly what you need to do!

Now, in terms of writing and answer to you, it's really really hard to articulate how to walk this line. But, in essence, you want to:

Highlight and leverage your past experience, but focusing more on the skills built (i.e. leadership, problem-solving, etc.) than on the financial expertise acquired
1. I did this for my IT background (i.e. pivoted most questions to how I had to solve client problems when building the system, I had to work across multiple teams, I had to stick to timelines and manage people, etc. etc.)
In terms of expressing your future interest, it's best to both emphasize that you like a wide range of things and are looking to explore options but are also particularly drawn to x (whatever x is is perfectly acceptable). This shows that you're both a "team player" and won't complain about projects, but also that you have drive/ambition and will eventually align with a practice area

Hope this makes sense! Honestly, the best way to prepare for this is to simulate this (with friends, colleagues, or a coach) in a mock fit interview. As you practice your answers, you'll naturally be able to identify what is a good answer versus a bad!

Answer 2

Hey,

Consider this:

Regardless of what you do next, you must leverage the MBA + previous experience to land in the right role in terms of level (and hence pay) and responsibilities. For this clearly show your full breadth & depth of experience that covers following major skills:
- Human Skills- leadership, communication, problem solving, relationship building
- Functional skills- areas in Finance industry you know a lot about
- Industry skills- Finance in this case and understanding of related industries
Next, to keep the doors open to try new functional areas and/or industries use #1 above to provide assurances to the interviewer that the foundation is strong, you have the maturity and transeferrable skills to be successful in the future role where you aspire to be. You have done the homework and are eager to take on new challenge, learn new things and navigate your career in a slightly new direction

Makes sense?!

All the best.

Answer 3

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