Executive Placements

Job interviews can be scary at the best of times but what about when you’re moving into the big end of town? Yvonne Kane tells Catherine Williams some handy pointers for execs who are climbing the ladder.

WITH a mere three to four per cent unemployment, Brisbane has a booming market for senior and executive level positions.

According to Yvonne Kane, who recently opened Kane Consultancy in Greenslopes, many big companies are relocating their head offices to Brisbane and the current strong economy means there is a higher demand for senior positions.

Kane Consultancy focuses on corporate services recruitment and owner Yvonne has eight years’ experience in senior management, having been a seniorlevel accountancy personnel recruiter in her birthplace, Scotland, and Australia.

She believes now the time is ripe to learn how to prepare for that next senior level interview.

Yvonne says landing your next high-end job isn’t just about skills and experience, describing Brisbane as a parochial market.

“You have to network a lot in Brisbane to get anywhere,” she says.

Yvonne says senior and executive-level recruitment is an intensive process because the recruiter needs a comprehensive profile of the candidate, their skills and abilities.

She says interviewers would spend an hour to 90 minutes with a senior-level candidate, whereas a juniorlevel position interview would only take 30-45 minutes.

Presentation skills are really important, according to Yvonne, who says candidates need to be “quite pedantic” about ensuring there are no spelling mistakes in their resume and cover letter.

Yvonne says it’s no big surprise that smart or corporate office attire is expected, depending on the job in question. Reference-checking is another crucial factor and Yvonne says if the candidate can’t provide two up-to-date references, then it indicates previous employment issues.

Along with resumes and interviews, these days many candidates are expected to complete an online personality test. This comprehensive profile gives the recruiter more information that they usually can’t draw out during the interview.