I was recently interviewed for a Sr. Manager position within a large organization, and over the course of two days met with 7 different interviewers (4 people each day, hiring manager included both times). Less than half of them seemed familiar with the specific role requirements, and they conducted very different interviews.
Without getting into all the ins and outs, this job was VERY similar to the role I just left. And many of the challenges they are facing are challenges I had recently dealt with. So when I met with the people who were familiar with the role, there was a lot of energy throughout the interview and I could tell they saw a good fit. With the people not as familiar with the role, this obviously wasn't as much of a selling point.
MT advice is to ask questions specific to the role being sought (not about the company in general). When it was my turn to ask questions, the former group would start their answer by saying "you hit the nail on the head" or "that's exactly the issue" etc. With the latter group, however, I would get a "I'm not that familiar with the specifics, you'd have to ask so-and-so" kind of a reaction. It kind of threw a wet blanket on the energy and I felt like I didn't have a good back-up strategy for what I ought to be communicating with those people.
Ultimately, I was the 2nd place candidate and I have to believe it was in part because most of the interviewers (including almost everyone in the 2nd round) weren't that familiar with the role so my strategy of "I'm a perfect fit for this role" didn't connect.
I'm sure I made a lot of mistakes so I don't want to come across as saying I didn't get the job because of poor interviewing. I can think of a lot of little things I could improve on, but wasn't sure of the best strategy I should take in these kinds of situations in the future. My question is specific to the "do you have any questions for me?" part of the interview, but I guess the question may also apply to questions I'm being asked.
Thanks.
We do the same thing at my
We do the same thing at my company. Any candidate for a position at any level of the company goes through at least 6 interviews with managers from across the company.
While some of the managers will be familiar with technical aspects of the job, the other managers are trying to assess cultural fit.
Is the candidate warm, friendly, energetic, passionate about something? Do their answers (even if technical aspects are not understood) show that they are a self-starter, confident in their abilities? How do they respond to our core values? When we talk about our culture, do they find it exciting?
I empathise with your comments on the energy difference. I head marketing, and when i have to interview someone for, say, an IT role I sometimes don't know what to make of their answers when they demonstrate their technical knowledge.
Our organisation is very culture driven, so this process of interviewing for culture is as important to us as the technical knowledge. Other companies might do things differently
Personally, if you are interviewing with managers who aren't familiar with your role, I would take the opportunity to ask questions about the company and what it is like to work there, not because you don't know these things, but because you want to turn the interview into a conversation. If they seem unsure what to ask you because they don't know your job, find topics that they can talk about. There is a good chance they haven't prepared for the interview (since you're not for their department) so you want to make it as easy for them as possible.
If those managers go back to the hiring manager and say "...dont' know about the technical stuff, but he seems like a good fit for the company' it could well influence the final decision.
Chris