Know the timeline - what is your target for having the person in the role? It is unacceptable to hear the answer - “yesterday” or “as soon as possible”. That does not provide insight into the process and timeline. How many rounds? How would you rate your exec’s ability to be available for interviewing?

Do not take ‘we will let you know as we get to the next step’ as an answer. This is extremely common with internal recruiters and somewhat common with exec recruiters. A good search partner knows each step of the process from beginning to end and likely had some say in how it was formulated

Providing honest and detailed feedback. Understand what got you excited about the opportunity; what were you concerned about, what do you want to explore further? How do you think you would want to meet with before getting to a decision point?

Understand that most executives are not strong interviewers – not all executive interviewers are strong interviewers. Be aware and prepared to receive questions that are not fully thought out or that are not relevant to the role. You will need to navigate a high level question and understand the level of detail they want to hear, ask them to clarify, circle back to ask if that level of detail was helpful.

Executive recruiters typically provide ample information but don’t take our word for it. Use your trusted network. A strong exec recruiter is there to tell you who our client is; we are not there to tell you how to prepare.