When you’re a CFO, FD or FC you’ll be working with and for, a variety of different characters. Some more reasonable than others, shall we say.
So, what happens if you do fall out of favour with an owner and end up interviewing elsewhere?
How can you explain your exit without it counting against you?
Here is some advice that we routinely share with candidates working with Headstar.
Less is more
You’re going to feel tempted to give extensive context to explain your departure, but it’s usually the wrong tactic. Interviewers may feel like they’re being spun a story that’s, at best, embellished, or at worst, an outright lie. Besides that, many will simply get lost in your lengthy back story and just switch off.
Lead with a short, specific and factual sentence like ‘The owner and I disagreed on how to grow the business, so I stayed in the role as caretaker and handed over to the incoming FD’. It’s a clear statement and you will get the chance to add clarifying detail when asked to elaborate. If you aren’t asked to though, get it in anyway.
Take ownership
Take ownership of the situation, regardless of who you think is responsible.
Always talk about the different ways you tried to resolve the issue, to demonstrate your ability to find ways to work with various personalities.
‘After trying X, Y and Z, I just couldn’t find a way to influence the owner from taking such risky action.’ is far better than ‘The owner just wouldn’t listen to me.’
Avoid vague clichés
It’s best to avoid vague clichés like ‘we didn’t see eye to eye,’ ‘we parted company by mutual agreement’ or ‘personality clash’. These answers raise further questions for the interviewer about how easy you are to work with because they can’t tell who was the problem, you or the other party. In some interviews, this sort of comment will go unchallenged because it just sounds defensive, so you won’t even get a chance to clarify any details.
Most interviewers can accept that some people out there are just a nightmare to work for – they’ve probably worked for a few themselves. They just want a logical, easy to understand explanation that cuts to the chase.
So follow these 3 tips to make it easy for them to identify you as someone with a great approach to working with people, regardless of the outcome.
