A strong résumé gets you into the room. What happens next is decided in the interview, and at executive level the interview is rarely a conversation. It is a structured assessment, scored against criteria, where the candidate who prepares deliberately almost always outperforms the one who relies on experience alone.
Most senior people are very good at their jobs and surprisingly underprepared for being interviewed about them. The two skills are not the same. Knowing how to do the work does not automatically translate into structuring a two-minute answer that a panel can score against a capability.
I coach you personally, one on one. We start with the roles you are targeting and the format you will face, then work through your real examples and shape them into answers that are structured, evidenced and calibrated to what the panel is assessing. You leave with a set of rehearsed responses you own, not a script to memorise.
Thirty years inside executive and government recruitment means I know how panels score, what they are listening for, and where strong candidates lose marks. Most of coaching is closing that gap: turning what you know into what a panel can actually credit you for.
Monique Thompson, Director
Government, every jurisdiction. APS (including EL1, EL2 and SES), VPS, NSW, QLD, WA, SA, ACT, NT, Tasmanian and local-government panels, with the capability frameworks and merit-based principles each one assesses against.
Corporate and commercial. Executive and senior-management interviews where the focus is commercial impact, people leadership, transformation and decision-making under scrutiny.
Not-for-profit and community. Values-based interviews where governance, service outcomes and community engagement carry as much weight as operational results.
Board appointments. A different conversation again, where the panel is assessing judgement and contribution at governance level.
Coaching is one on one, by phone, Zoom or Microsoft Teams, scheduled around senior workloads, including evenings and weekends where needed. Each session is private and built around your specific role and interview. Many clients book once they have an interview date; others come back before each new application.
Interview coaching can be booked on its own or alongside a résumé or application package. View the full range of packages, or get in touch with Monique for a recommendation.