Master Your Talk Track

As part of your job search, you will want to put some time into building a clear narrative to support the (many) conversations you’ll be having.

Here are some of the questions you will get asked. We've pulled these from interviews with top GTM leaders we've spoke with on our podcast. Below are some other questions that you should be ready to answer.

• What is your super-power? Think about the value you bring to a company and why a CEO would hire you. If your super-power isn't unique and niched down and doesn't communicate a reason for a CEO to hire you, it isn't well articulated.
• Why are you looking now? Help people understand why are you leaving your last job, making this transition. You should have an easy, casual answer that doesn't complain / come across as jaded.

"I've learned that I shouldn't proactively try to explain why I left a job but wait for them to ask and have a simple answer ready." Whispered Executive

• Why this company, why this role, why now? See Heather Doshay talk about the power of this question.
• Why are you qualified for this job? Not every role will be right up the fairway but you want to focus on ones that are a good fit. But industry is one you can often stretch on.

"When they ask you how you can do the job if you don't know the industry... have a quick answer ready for this." Whispered Member

• What type of company do you want to work for? Learn how to get clarity on your target profile and build a list of target companies
• Tell me about yourself? Interviewers will often ask this. Don't assume they have read your resume so keep it sweet and short
• Where have you done your best work? If you can't immediately answer this, interviewers will question if you have truly been successful in roles. Be specific and name the company and then say why
• Walk me through your background. Be brief and don't just list roles but focus on providing a clear narrative. Once you've delivered this ask if they'd like you to deeper on any area
• What is your leadership / management style. Typically interviewers are looking for a framework here - it can we wise to clarify if they mean leadership or management
• Who were your mentors? Recruiters often love to subtly learn about people they can back-channel and also how you collaborate. If you have great mentors, highlight these.
• Tell me about a challenging situation at work. You need to communicate a true challenge and explain what you learned from it
• Tell me about how you worked with your last CEO. The interviewer is looking to see how positive you are and if it was a good relationship.
• How fluent are you in AI? This one comes up more and more. See our playbook on AI fluency

It’s important to step back and think about the themes driving your next career steps. Writing about themes/trends you are excited about can catalyze your search. This clarity can make it easier for you to engage people in deeper conversations and identify companies you are excited about.

“So few candidates have a thesis for the problems they are excited to solve. This clarity of thought can help guide their search and make them much more compelling as candidates.” Chuck Brotman, Recruiter and Founder of Blueprint Expansion

Another fun talk track to practice is to answer "If a recruiter introduced you in one sentence, what would you want them to say?"

Key Tips

With every talk track answer, remember to:

• Be concise: Hiring managers are looking for people who can communicate clearly and concisely.
• Be memorable: Don't be vanilla and ideally bring an anecdote (see below) or provide a hook
• Be relevant: Don't give generic answers. Try to tie them to something specific you researched about the company
• Be metrics-driven: Quantify impacts and do the math for them
• Be positive: No negativity, all objectivity
• Be a builder: Talk about how you roll up your sleeves - that is what hiring managers - event at C-Level - are seeking these days
• Be aware: Listen / think about concerns they might have (i.e. this person will just run the same playbook, this person might not be AI fluent) and use your talk tracks to take these issues off the table by addressing them head-on
• Be curious: Don't hesitate to ask clarifying questions
• Be strategic: Interviewers are looking for threads they can pull on. Think in advance of which threads you want them to pull on (and which you don't)

Open Ended Questions

Be prepared for classic interview techniques that look for threads using these open-ended prompts

• The "Walk Me Through". W"alk me through exactly how you handled that moment/crisis"
• The "Tell Me More"Tell me more about what happened after you made that decision"
• The "Unpack": "You mentioned you found the transition challenging. Can you unpack what made it so difficult for you?"
• The "Mirror": The interviewer will repeat a piece of your answer as a question. E.g., if you say "The team wasn't aligned," they ask, "Why do you feel the team was misaligned?"

Nail your stories

Great speakers almost always have prepared stories they use in their speeches because well-crafted narratives are a powerful tool to engage the audience, convey a message effectively, and make their points more memorable

You should prepare impactful short stories that you can use in every interview / discussion to highlight areas including:

• The impact you drive
• How you lead
• How you work at an executive level
• How you are comfortable getting your hands dirty
• How you can build in AI
• How you have successfully learned new areas

Try to use numbers / company names to help people remember stories:

• "I grew X from $5 to $200 million in 3 years"
• "I managed a team of 45, and an ARR of $80 million"
• "I excel at high-velocity models and have worked at Zapier and Rippling"

Practice these stories regularly. Both in front of the mirror, on interview calls but also podcasts are a great place to practice these stories.

And remember when recruiters or hiring managers are advocating for you... stories are much more powerful. Think of "what is the story they will tell about you when you aren't in the room." and design your talk track to help them find the right story

The power of stories from Sylvia LePoidevin. Hear the whole episode on our podcast

Do you know how to find your next role?