It’s all about the people.
If you follow these tips, you won't go too far wrong.
I've been recruiting senior finance professionals for over 20 years. I've sat in on thousands of interviews, debriefed thousands more, and the truth is this: interviewing isn't as hard as you make it out to be in your own head.
The employer wants you to perform well. They genuinely want you to be the one. So if you prepare properly, do your research, and give it the time it deserves, you'll do great. Let's jump in.
You can never be over-prepared for an interview. Ever.
Start with the basics. Check the address. If it's in person, work out parking or transport before the day. If it's on Teams or Zoom, test your camera, your lighting, your background, and your audio the day before. Not 10 minutes before. The day before.
For the company, go deeper than the website. Read the last two sets of financial results. Look at the investor presentations. Read the CEO's commentary in the annual report. If they're private, look at ASIC filings or any press coverage. For senior finance roles, this is non-negotiable. You're being hired to understand the numbers, so know their numbers before you walk in.
Then go to LinkedIn. Find your interviewers. Look at their background, where they've worked, how long they've been there. Check their recent activity. You'll learn a lot about what matters to them.
Here's where AI changes the game. Drop the company's annual report into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to summarise the strategy, the risks, and the key financial movements. Ask it to compare the company to its top three competitors. Ask it what questions a CFO would likely ask a candidate joining this finance team. In 20 minutes you can do what used to take half a day. Use it as a research assistant, not a script writer. The insight has to come from you.
Smile. It's the simplest thing and the most overlooked.
I've met senior finance candidates who walk in looking like they're about to be audited. Take a breath. Smile. Open posture. It changes how people respond to you immediately.
Dress one level up from what the company wears day to day. If they're business casual, wear a jacket. If you're not sure, jacket on. I've never once had a client tell me a candidate was too well dressed.
For video interviews, the same rules apply from the waist up. Sit forward. Look into the camera, not the screen. Make sure the room behind you doesn't look like a teenager's bedroom. In person, your handshake matters. Firm, not crushing. If you think yours is weak, ask your partner or a mate to test it. They'll tell you the truth.
Know it like the back of your hand.
For senior finance roles, expect to be questioned on every line. Every transformation you led. Every system implementation. Every team you built. Every result you delivered.
Have your numbers ready. If you reduced month-end close from 10 days to 5, know it. If you delivered $4 million in cost savings, know how. If you led a finance function through an acquisition, know the size, the integration timeline, and what you actually owned.
Use AI to pressure test your stories. Paste your resume into Claude and ask it to interview you. Ask it to be tough. Ask it to challenge your achievements the way a sceptical CFO would. You'll be surprised how quickly you find the gaps in your own story.
This is where a lot of senior candidates trip up.
Hiring managers want to know what you did. Not what your team did. Not what the business did. What you did. Stay away from 'we delivered this' or 'the team built that.' Talk about your contribution. I led. I designed. I implemented. I influenced the board on this. I built the FP&A function from scratch.
This isn't ego. It's clarity. The interviewer is trying to work out what you bring to the role, so make it easy for them. Tie every achievement back to the role you're interviewing for. If they need someone to lift commercial acumen across the business, lead with the example where you did exactly that.
You can guess most of what's coming.
You've seen the job ad. You know roughly what they care about. Sit down and write out the 10 questions you'd ask if you were the hiring manager. Then practice the answers out loud. Not in your head. Out loud. There's a huge difference between thinking you can answer a question and actually being able to articulate it cleanly.
This is another spot where AI is genuinely useful. Give it the job description and your resume, and ask it to generate likely interview questions. Then use it as a sparring partner. Voice mode on ChatGPT will run a full mock interview with you, push back on your answers, and tell you where you're being vague.
One warning: don't memorise scripted answers. You'll sound rehearsed and robotic. The goal is fluency, not recital.
No one wants to hire someone carrying baggage.
If your current boss is a nightmare, if the culture is broken, if the company is falling apart, address it briefly and move on. Don't dwell. Don't vent. Don't list grievances. Hiring managers are listening for one thing: will this person bring problems with them or solutions? Be the solutions person.
You will get asked. Have at least five good ones ready.
For senior finance roles, go beyond the obvious. Ask about the finance team's relationship with the commercial side of the business. Ask about the systems environment and what's on the roadmap. Ask what success looks like in the first 12 months. Ask the CFO what keeps them up at night. Ask the interviewer why they joined the company and why they've stayed.
Write them down beforehand. No one is going to judge you for referring to a notebook in a senior interview. They'll judge you if you go blank.
If the interview has gone well, close it properly.
Ask how they think the conversation went. Ask what the next steps look like. Ask what their timeline is. This does two things: it shows you're confident and genuinely interested, and it gives you useful information to work with afterwards.
This one matters more than people realise.
The receptionist. The EA who walked you in. The person who made your coffee. The junior who took you up in the lift. How you treat them gets back to the hiring manager. Always. I've had senior placements fall over because a candidate was short with a receptionist. Don't be that person.
Open posture. No crossed arms. Mirror the person across from you.
Eye contact when they're speaking. Eye contact when you're answering. On video, look at the camera lens, not the little box of your own face.
If you're naturally reserved, that's fine. Some of the best finance leaders I've placed are quiet, considered, introverted. You don't have to be the loudest person in the room. You just have to be present.
Yes, use AI to prepare. Use it for research, for mock interviews, for pressure testing your stories.
But never use it live in an interview. Don't have ChatGPT open on a second screen during a video call. Hiring managers can spot it. Your eyes give it away. Your answers sound generic. In finance, where trust and judgement are everything, getting caught doing this is career-ending for that opportunity.
Prepare with AI. Perform without it.
If you prepare properly, do your research, and give it the time it deserves, you'll nail the interview. Believe in yourself. I've placed some of the most reserved, understated finance professionals into incredible roles. You don't have to be extroverted. You just have to be ready.
