Guides
How to interview for a board role
When you get called for an interview for a board role, what should you expect from the process?
Dermot Hanley is a highly experienced independent non-executive director and chairperson.
He is currently a non-executive board member and chair of numerous private equity-backed companies and regulated investment funds.
Dermot is also a member of the Governance Advisory Council of the Corporate Governance Institute and a member of the board at GH Research, and he is the chair of the audit committee at that firm.
Interviewed for many board roles
Dermot has been interviewed for many different board roles.
He has years of practical experience and personal observations of the process and shares them with us.
We kicked the interview off by asking Dermot to tell us about the structure and format of the CV that secured the interview for the board position.
If you are invited to an interview for a board member, non-executive director or trustee role, your CV will have helped you get there, but what makes a successful board role CV?
Then we delve straight into what the interview process for a board role looks like.
Dermot gives us his first-hand knowledge on:
- Pre-interview preparation
- The skills boards and CEOs are looking for
- How to do your research on the role
- Who will interview you for the role
- What type of questions you will be asked in the interview
- How to give yourself the best chance in an interview
- The importance of personality, not just skills
- The commitments you will face as a board member
- Why being a board member is an excellent career move
An interview at the board level is very different from the standard interview process and indicates the due diligence you can expect in a board position.
To be considered for board membership, you must demonstrate your technical expertise, a willingness to learn and adapt, a passion for the industry, and the critical characteristics of a board member.
Video time stamps
- Preparing the CV of an aspiring board member [00:00 – 03:23]
- How to carry out pre-interview preparation – [03:23 – 05:35]
- Who’s likely to be asking the questions in the interview? – [05:35 – 07:13]
- The initial interview phases and opening questions – [07:13 – 09.21]
- The types of questions to expect from the interview board – [09.21 – 14:55]
- The soft skills that are in high demand on boards – [14:55 – 17:12]
- The issue of diversity on boards – [17:12 – 19:42]
- The most challenging question Dermot has faced in an interview – [19:42 – 21:23]
