What To Expect When Interviewing For A CIO Position

Between Halloween and the end of the year, there is often a surprising flurry of executive hiring activity. If you find yourself in the lucky spot of being interviewed for a new CIO or IT leadership role, it is a good idea to practice answering some key questions, whether they come in a first or final interview. The following are sample questions which you may be asked during your onsite interview.

To prepare for interviews, review your skills and experience, research the organization and key leaders, and practice your responses to hypothetical questions. In the interview, be sensitive to how much time you take to answer, so that your interviewers have the ability to ask all of their questions. Other helpful tips include: display confidence without bragging, have an executive presence, and bring a list of your own questions to ask if there is time at the end of the interview.

Sample questions for CIO candidates:

1. Please tell us about some of the highlights of your professional career, including the influences that have shaped your life, your current responsibilities and why you are specifically interested in becoming the CIO of ________. Simply stated: Why me and why this opportunity?
2. Supporting an enterprise information technology organization and collaborating with the key stakeholders will be key responsibilities for the incoming CIO. Tell us about your experience building partnerships and bringing disparate IT groups together.
3. As you know, improving patient care, quality, cyber security, data governance, and data analytics are priorities for our system. What specific information technology strategies have you implemented that have positively impacted these key areas, and how might you approach these issues at __________?
4. In what ways have you played an active role in leading IT transformational changes at your institution(s)? What has been your role? Please tell us a story about a project that you feel demonstrates your skill in this important area.
5. What do you believe is driving change in American healthcare information technology? What opportunities do the changes in the marketplace (such as emerging digital technologies, cloud computing, consumerism, data analytics, cyber security, public policy, etc.) present for us? What will it take for us to seize those opportunities and have ___________ emerge stronger?
6. Describe a time when you successfully mobilized people to support a major change that some saw as controversial. What was your strategy for achieving this?
7. How does the institutional IT governance system where you have worked compare with our system? How would you prepare to work effectively and lead ___________ System and its governance structure?
8. Do you have questions for us?