Interviewing After Five Years: A Leadership Reflection

Last week, I walked into an interview room for the first time in five years.

To be honest, it caught me off guard—not the questions, but what the experience stirred in me. You’d think after years of working across finance, managing teams, and stepping into leadership roles in various sectors, I’d feel prepared. And in some ways, I was.

But this wasn’t the kind of interview I remembered from earlier in my career.

This time, it felt different.

The Space Between Then and Now When I last interviewed for a role, I was in a very different phase of life. The questions then were straightforward:

Do you have the right skills?

Can you hit the ground running?

Will you fit in?

But after five years of navigating real-world work—complex team dynamics, leadership challenges, financial systems, and deeply human moments—something in me had shifted.

I’ve grown. Not just in experience, but in how I see leadership, responsibility, and alignment.

And that changed the whole texture of this interview.

A New Lens on Interviews This time, I walked in with a new lens.

When you're early in your career, interviews often feel like a test. You're trying to match the expectations in front of you, ticking boxes to get the offer.

But now, with leadership experience behind me, it felt more like a mutual exploration.

The panel wasn’t just trying to figure out what I had done. They were trying to understand how I think, why I lead the way I do, and whether my approach aligns with the direction they’re heading in.

And I was doing the same.

I wasn’t just answering. I was also listening—closely—to the questions they chose, the tone of the conversation, the values between the lines. You can feel when an organisation has a strong vision. You can sense whether they’re looking for someone to follow process or to help shape culture.

That’s what makes interviews at this stage both challenging and powerful. You’re not just applying for a role. You’re discerning whether this is a place where your leadership can thrive.

A Quiet Mirror One of the most unexpected outcomes?

“I learnt a lot about myself today.”

Not because the panel gave me feedback, but because the process made me slow down and articulate what’s been quietly forming over years of real-life leadership.

What kind of leader am I now?

What do I value in teams, in culture, in people?

How have my experiences shaped the way I think about resilience, growth, and service?

These are questions we rarely ask ourselves until we’re sitting across from people who need to know.

It’s Not About the Right Answer In my early career, I used to prepare for interviews like exams. I wanted to say the “right” things, give the polished response, show I was competent.

But this time, I wasn’t chasing correctness—I was chasing clarity.

I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I was trying to be honest:

About what I’ve learnt through real challenges

About where I’ve made mistakes and grown

About what kind of leadership I believe in, and why

Because leadership interviews aren’t about performance. They’re about presence. And presence comes from being aligned, not rehearsed.

Some Takeaways—If You're in This Phase Too If you’re stepping back into interviews after years of experience—or entering leadership for the first time—here’s what helped me:

💡 Reflect before you prepare. Before you draft answers, sit with your own story. What shaped your leadership? What matters to you now?

💡 Listen deeply during the interview. The panel’s questions tell you more than you think. Are they focused on vision, outcomes, relationships, systems? What does that say about the culture?

💡 Seek alignment, not approval. You’re not there to “win” the role. You’re there to find clarity—on whether this is a team and mission you genuinely want to contribute to.

I walked out of that interview feeling grounded—not because I knew whether I got the job, but because I had reconnected with something important: Who I am as a leader, and what I stand for.

And that clarity, to me, is more valuable than any offer letter.