How to interview a CEO – 3 key steps

C-suite

Article

In short

The challenge: Hiring the right CEO is one of the most critical decisions a business can make yet many hiring managers lack the experience or tools to conduct a CEO interview effectively. This leads to missed opportunities to assess key leadership qualities, strategic thinking, cultural fit, and the ability to drive growth. Without a tailored, thoughtful approach, organisations risk selecting a leader who may not be equipped to guide the business through its next phase.

The solution: The solution lies in designing interviews that go beyond generic templates and instead focus on key areas such as leadership style, strategic vision, operational experience, cultural alignment, and adaptability. Engaging with an Executive Search firm like Robert Half gives companies a competitive edge as our approach is tailored to the unique demands of executive leadership, resulting in 97% successful placements.

The outcome: Organisations significantly improve their chances of hiring the right CEO. This leads to stronger alignment between leadership and business goals, greater stakeholder confidence, and a more resilient, future-ready organisation. A well-conducted CEO interview not only reveals the candidate’s capabilities but also sets the tone for a successful leadership transition and long-term growth.

How to interview a CEO:

Introductions and foundations
Types of interview questions
Final remarks

View Craig’s bio here

Craig Bernhardt is Senior Managing Director at Robert Half’s Executive Search division, based in Sydney. He leads high-level retained search engagements for C‑suite and senior executive roles across Australia and New Zealand, specialising in industries such as finance, technology, human resources, marketing, sales, and executive management. With over 25 years of global experience, Craig has worked in mature, emerging, and high-growth markets across regions including Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the United States, Europe, the UK, and the Middle East.

In many respects, the CEO is the most important individual in a company.

Unfortunately, most hiring managers have interviewed a CEO candidate no more than once or twice in their career, if ever at all.

Without this experience, many interviewers will find themselves scratching their heads when it comes to knowing how to interview a CEO effectively.

They may ask questions from a generic template that applies to all employees, overlooking the basic question that should inform all others, would their skills and qualities make them an effective leader of your organisation?

For almost a decade, I have been leading CEO searches across Australia and New Zealand, and I know that to find the best CEO for your company, your interview will need to address all the essential areas such as leadership, strategy, vision, execution and growth.

It will also need to cover less tangible success factors, like passion, energy, conflict management and cultural fit.

In constructing your interview, many questions will, of course, need to be customised to the needs of your organisation.

That in mind, here’s my basic guide to how to interview a CEO:

1. Getting started for the CEO interview

After the introductory handshakes and introductions, a good opening question could be ‘why do you think this is the right opportunity for you?’ and ‘why do you think you’re the right person to lead the company?’

A strong candidate will be able to give a concise answer that provides a big-picture view of their skills, experience, vision and professional aspirations.

It will help to establish chemistry and set the right tone, and create a foundation for more specific questions that ‘drill down’ on their skills and experience.

Related: 3 must-have traits to fulfil the role of CEO today

2. What questions to ask

In my experience, a well-structured CEO interview includes questions that are both strategy and execution-related.

Asking open-ended questions will facilitate an in-depth conversation, give you a sense of how well the candidate can communicate with stakeholders, and how well they understand the business.

As a critical part of knowing how to interview a CEO, there are a few different areas of capability that you will want to cover.

Keep in mind that each question could require several hours of discussion, so you may need to be selective.

Finance, operations and growth

According to the Robert Half CEO Tracker, 43.5% of ASX 200-listed CEOs* have experience in finance.

This means qualified CEOs should be comfortable having an in-depth discussion about their experience with things like increasing efficiency, managing budgets, prioritising investments and enhancing shareholder return.

Related: 7-Eleven Chief Executive Officer Angus McKay talks about the pathway to CEO

You may also want to ask about their past experiences making tough decisions, such as budgets cuts or restructuring.

Have they grown or changed an organisation through strategic partnership, joint venture or acquisition?

What was the long-term outcome?

Strategy and vision

Ask the CEO candidate about their vision for your company over the next three to five years.

What do they think are the top strategic priorities and how would they execute on them?

How would they learn the business, build trust, and develop a plan in their first 100 days?

In the past, how have they developed strategy in response to new market entrants and competitive threats?

What were their long- and short-term goals?

How did they gain buy-in from key stakeholders?

Related: 5 key factors to consider when hiring a CEO

Leadership, culture and personality

It’s important to ask the candidate questions about their management style and team-building approach.

You can start with what they think are their main strength and areas of improvement as a leader or manager.

What communication styles do they use in reports, with managers, and general staff?

How about external parties, such as clients, investors and partners?

Almost six out of 10 ASX 200-listed CEOs have worked internationally, so this is your chance to ask about their experiences working with teams and individuals in other countries and regulatory environments.

Related: Hiring for the CEO office - promote from within or hire from outside?

Cultural alignment is critical to be successful as a CEO, so it's important to also ask:

What are their guiding principles?

Can they share any personal stories that shaped their outlook on life?

Importantly, have they overseen cultural change to help drive innovation?

Technology

While only 10.5% of current ASX 200-listed CEOs have industry experience in technology, the candidate should still have a solid understanding of its growing role in driving innovation and staying competitive.

At the very least, can they provide an example of a business that they admire for its use of technology to evolve its business model and succeed through innovation?

Related: Should technology skills matter for Australians CEOs?

This is also your chance to ask the candidate about their career development needs and gaps in skills/experience. How do they plan to address them so that they can become a more effective CEO?

3. Closing the interview

Explore Executive Search

As there is a lot of ground to cover when interviewing a Chief Executive Officer, you may need to schedule more than one interview session with each shortlisted candidate.

At the end of each session, don’t forget the all-important closing question: do you have any questions for us? While it may seem like a generic candidate interview, this remains a critical question to ask to ensure candidates are given equal opportunity to find out more about your organisation before they make a transition. I’ve seen this question uncover everything from unspoken hesitations to game-changing insights, sometimes it’s where the most valuable conversation starts.

Following these guidelines will ensure that every interview question illuminates the candidate’s key skills and qualities, and improves your chances of hiring the best person for the job.

We are here to help you. If you’re searching for a new CEO, the Robert Half Executive Search team can identify leaders who’ll thrive in your organisation’s culture and bring strategic vision to the table.

*ABOUT THE RESEARCH - Robert Half has conducted research on CEOs of the ASX 200 by analysing publicly available sources of information about ASX 200 CEOs to track trends including their professional and educational background, gender, and length of tenure. The research was analysed from the 1st June 2019 to 1st July 2019, and all results are correct to the best of our knowledge. The information within the Robert Half CEO Tracker is based on publicly-available information. Where possible, the information has been checked and verified by the offices of the CEOs.

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