10 Interview Questions for Hiring an Executive Director

Over the past year, I’ve coached several gifted individuals who interviewed for executive director positions, and I can tell you that many nonprofits handle these interviews poorly. They don’t ask the right questions or they don’t really know what they’re looking for.

Frankly, it’s not surprising. Usually, board members conduct executive director interviews, but most of them aren’t professional human resources people and have never gotten training. How should they know what to ask?

So it’s also not surprising that two questions I get asked a lot are:

• From boards: What are good interview questions for executive directors?
• From candidates: Can you help me get ready for an executive director interview?

Let’s tackle both.