Director of Finance Skills Interview
Author:
Brendan RookeThis template will help you identify the best candidate for a Finance Director overseeing Merger and Acquisition transactions in a large financial consulting organization. This template is designed specifically for a role that is external and client-facing whose main objective is to effectively manage client relationships and deliver value in the deal transactions. It also covers managing the teams to ensure they are focused and is delivering value.
Focus area:
Question
1
Imagine you're dealing with a client who is very money-sensitive. They want to bring you on for a ‘light’ project and may contract more work later. What do you need to consider with this request, and how would you respond?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to manage client expectations and understand the value they can deliver relative to a particular scope
Explore tips
- Clarifies what the client wants and communicates the problem they want addressed
- Understands and defines what value they can offer them in a ‘light’ scope
- Uses expertise to suggest a work plan to address their needs
- Carefully defines what each phase of work entails and what they will deliver
- Ensures they can provide the client value and insight at each phase
Question
2
The following are two scenarios you might encounter when working on deals with clients. In scenario A, a client might have invested limited resources in a particular scope of work but are expecting your team to deliver more than what was initially contracted. While you have the capacity to deliver more, they are not willing to pay more. In scenario B, a client might have excessive resources to invest in the scope of work but are asking for more than you and your team have the capacity to deliver. While they have the capacity to invest more, you don't have the capacity to meet their request. What would you prioritize in both of these scenarios? How might you manage the client requests effectively?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to prioritize client satisfaction while delivering value and balancing requests with resources
Explore tips
- Attempts to gain a deep understanding of the client’s requests in each scenario
- Suggests staged deliverables and shows progress while resources to free up
- Determines which requests will deliver real value
- Considers negotiating more resources a) from them or b) for your team
- Emphasizes importance of being explicit initially with expectations/deliverable
Question
3
What advice would you give someone who was more junior than you on running an initial meeting with a client whose business they were trying to secure?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to build trust and make a positive impression on a client
Explore tips
- Emphasizes importance of being prepared and researching their needs beforehand
- Suggests establishing an agenda of topics to cover in the conversation
- Suggests bringing SMEs to initial conversations to speak about a relevant topics
- Encourages them to be honest about what they don't know (and follow up later)
Question
4
Tell me about a time where your margins were low so you sourced a new client and secured their business. What steps did you take to source that client, and how was your approach effective in securing their business?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to secure business by marketing themselves and their services effectively
Explore tips
- First researched industry trends, transactions, and major players in segment
- Reached out initially to deliver helpful information unrelated to sales pitches
- Referenced their own expertise/ experience in the industry to establish trust
- Explains how company could bring them value (e.g., other areas of expertise)
- Highlights offensive and/or defensive strategies to grow/preserve value in the segment
Question
5
Think about an industry you like to work in or follow. Tell me about 3 trends in this industry, and explain how these trends are relevant and will impact financial deals occurring now or in the near future.
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to deliver clear, concise, and comprehensive statements and exhibits knowledge of market
Explore tips
- Clearly identifies three market trends (e.g., inflation, interest rates, wages)
- Explains the impact of market trends on their identified industry
- Explains how the trends will influence the value of deals
- Provides crisp, clear, and concise responses with impactful statements
- Communicates thoughts in a structured manner
Question
6
How do you manage your stress? What do you do in your free time to have fun?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate shares interests and engages in social activities with others
Explore tips
- Communicates specific strategies to manage stress (e.g. talk to friends/family)
- Shares hobbies/activities that help them manage stress or balance work and life
- Exhibits an interest in different hobbies/activities outside of work they enjoy
- Shows ability to bond with others/clients on non-work related matters
Question
7
Delegating work and communicating responsibilities to your team is an important part of your role. What is your approach to delegating, and can you give me an example of how you've applied this in the past?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to allocate and communicate responsibilities effectively
Explore tips
- Shares a systematic approach for delegating work (e.g., daily, weekly, etc.)
- Ensures expectations are communicated clearly and in a timely manner
- Is transparent about workload and ensures priorities are aligned across the team
- Exhibits individual consideration by taking into account individual needs
- Frames/tailors messages in a way that is motivating for the team
Question
8
Imagine a team you’re managing is feeling unmotivated with a particular project. How would you boost productivity and build team morale?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to inspire motivation and engagement in others
Explore tips
- Consults team to identify roadblocks hampering employee productivity/motivation
- Build camaraderie/team through activities/exercises
- Provides opportunity for informal communication and interaction
- Explains how their work has impact by aligning it with company objectives
Question
9
A) Can you share a few examples of common ways you use excel in your work? B) How do you use pivot tables? Explain common ways to modify data in pivot tables and key categories in pivot tables. C) How would you return data on Tab 2 matching Tab 1 with a common field between both tabs? Explain one or two formulas that could accomplish this.
What does this question reveal?
Candidate exhibits technical proficiency in spreadsheets to work efficiently
Explore tips
- Clearly describes common excel functions relative to the work
- Explains how these functions are more efficient than alternatives
- Explains pivot tables, slicers, fields and sorting
- Suggest a VLookup or index match (not an equals sign argument) to link tabs
- Elaborates on how they would use the function
Question
10
Can you give me an example of a time where you solved a problem independently and supported or alleviated work from others?
What does this question reveal?
Candidate has the ability to take ownership over work and demonstrate initiative in problem solving
Explore tips
- Explains the context and how they identified the specific problem
- Defines specific goals they needed to achieve with solving the problem
- Uses ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ statements
- Shares specific steps they took to solve the problem
- Explains how the problem supported colleagues and/or business objectives
