Job hunting in the "C-suite" -- CEO, CFO, COO, CIO -- in a down economy and post-Enron takes a customized set of interview skills. That was the message Tuesday at a panel discussion presented by the Greater Philadelphia Senior Executive Group and Kaplan & Associates.

"What Boards, CEOs and Investors Really Want in a Senior Executive," held at Penn State Great Valley in East Whiteland, was attended by 65 people, nearly all men, split between chief executive officers, chief operating officers, chief financial officers and chief information officers in job transitions. About a third raised their hands when moderator Alan Kaplan asked how many had been job searching for six months. Roughly another third acknowledged job hunting for more than a year.

Mitch Wienick, partner at Kelleher Associates, a Delaware Valley provider of customized career management and executive coaching, told the group high-level executives can expect hiring in one of four types of positions:

• At a start-up company, the key is the ability to build a company's culture and management systems from scratch. That means team building and the ability to recruit talent with limited resources.
• At a turnaround company, cash flow is an issue. The company is teetering so success or failure will be on both a personal and business level. Decisions have to be decisive, the workforce re-energized with a willingness to make deep, painful cuts.
• With a company that is in realignment, the ability to change the corporate culture is key, as well as convincing employees that change is necessary.
• Ongoing success means following in the shadow of a highly regarded leader. The key is to play good defense and find ways to take the company to the next level, Wienick said. 

"The expectation at the C-level, the C-suite, is the ability to build personal credibility for the business, the employees and the stakeholders, to realign the company and to maintain perspective and emotional balance," Wienick said.Overall, be flexible, Wienick advised. High-level executives need to cope, survive and strive and do it on their feet. They need to be motivators. Executives with a "lone ranger" attitude are seldom successful.

Panelist J.B. Doherty, managing partner at TDH, a Philadelphia-based private equity firm, said while senior executives are searching for a new position, they should also search for the acquisition of a business. "It is easier to buy a business than you think," Doherty told the group. "(Investors) don't mind an unbaked loaf. Our business is listening, evaluating, coaching. "When it comes to the job search, employers put a premium "on mining prior experience, knowledge and friendships," Doherty said. In some instances, executives are hired not for their skill set, but for their business contact set.

Lori Schneider, managing director at Resources Connections, a consulting company, said in the post-Enron culture companies are looking for integrity and leadership as much as technical skills. With the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, integrity has been legislated. Now that financial statements must be certified by company officers, senior executive candidates can expect to be answering behavioral questions in the interview process, Schneider said. Steve Prichard, human resources consultant and former managing director at the Internet Capital Group, a public company that builds and develops business-to-business e-commerce companies, said senior-level management candidates can look forward to intensive interviews and reference checks.

Like Schneider, Prichard said the more intense scrutiny is a result of the Sarbanes-Oxley. Ethics are golden. Top-level job candidates get 360-degree reference checks that include talking to the candidate's peers, their bosses and their subordinates in addition to the references that are provided on a resume, Prichard said.

If job candidates misrepresent themselves, there is no wiggle room. Candidates' resumes are checked for their schools and degrees. Criminal and credit background checks are done. And candidates can expect a three-to-four hour interview by an outside screener in addition to the in-house HR department interview process, Prichard added.

References can be key, Kelleher Associates' Wienick added. If they hesitate or pause before answering a question, or if they do not return phone calls, that sends a red flag to the interviewer. Wienick advised job applicants to call their references and keep them refreshed on what they've seen you do. 

"Ed's the guy you go to if you're having a problem."

—Managing Director