Interviewing finance professionals is not just about assessing numbers on a CV. It’s about identifying the right balance of technical expertise, strategic thinking, and interpersonal skills that will drive value within your business. As financial roles become increasingly integral to business strategy and operations, the quality of your interview process can be the deciding factor in securing top-tier talent.
Recruiting in the finance space presents specific challenges. Employers must not only test a candidate’s proficiency with technical concepts such as GAAP, IFRS, and financial modelling, but also their ability to communicate insights, collaborate across departments, and uphold ethical standards. It’s a discipline where mistakes can be costly and culture fit is essential.
Macildowie understands this landscape. With deep expertise in finance recruitment, we help businesses implement structured, strategic interview processes that consistently identify high-performing finance professionals.
Understanding the Finance Role Requirements
Defining the Role
Before conducting interviews, it’s essential to build a clear, comprehensive understanding of the role you’re trying to fill. That means establishing what the day-to-day responsibilities are, which financial systems the role interacts with, and what success looks like over the first six to twelve months. You should also consider the level of autonomy the role requires - whether it’s purely technical, strategic, or both.
Beyond task-based duties, identify the core technical and soft skills that are truly essential. For example, is the candidate expected to manage month-end reporting? Lead forecasting and budgeting cycles? Communicate directly with investors? These distinctions will inform the questions you ask and the benchmarks you use to evaluate responses.
Aligning with Organisational Goals
A strong finance hire does more than deliver accurate reports, they help the business grow. That’s why alignment with your organisation’s culture, vision, and strategic direction is just as important as technical ability. Ask yourself: What kind of leadership style will thrive in this environment? How adaptable does the person need to be? Are they stepping into a stabilised team or one undergoing change?
It’s also important to consider how the finance function interacts with other departments. Will the new hire need to influence operations, marketing, or tech leaders? If so, their communication skills and commercial mindset should be evaluated just as closely as their accounting knowledge.
Crafting Effective Interview Questions
An effective interview blends technical assessment with behavioural insight. The questions you ask should be carefully tailored to the level and nature of the role.
Technical Competency Questions
To accurately assess technical ability, ask candidates to talk through real scenarios. For instance, request a walkthrough of a financial model they built and what business decisions it supported. Explore how they ensure compliance with changing financial standards, or how they managed a budget under pressure. Their responses should reflect attention to detail, understanding of best practices, and a strategic approach to financial planning.
In more senior roles, test their familiarity with key performance indicators, forecasting techniques, and reporting tools. How do they balance financial accuracy with commercial insight? Can they translate data into business recommendations?
Behavioural and Situational Questions
Behavioural questions reveal how candidates handle real-world challenges. For example, ask them to describe a time they found a financial discrepancy - what did they do, how did they communicate it, and what was the outcome? Look for signs of accountability, problem-solving, and sound judgment.
Situational questions are especially useful when assessing adaptability. Ask how they managed during a finance transformation, a change in ERP system, or a shift to hybrid working. Their answers can tell you a lot about resilience, innovation, and leadership.
Cultural Fit and Soft Skills Assessment
Finance professionals don’t work in silos - they influence decision-making across departments. That’s why communication, collaboration, and ethics are crucial areas to explore. Ask how candidates explain financial data to non-finance colleagues or how they’ve built relationships with key stakeholders.
Probe into values and behaviours. Have they ever raised a red flag on a financial issue? What did they do? Their stories will offer insight into whether they’ll uphold your values, integrate into your team, and build trust.
Evaluating Candidate Responses
STAR Methodology
Encourage candidates to answer using the STAR method - Situation, Task, Action, Result. This framework leads to clearer, more structured responses that make it easier for interviewers to evaluate depth of experience and impact.
Listen for specific outcomes. Did the action they took actually improve something? Did it lead to cost savings, improved reporting, or better compliance? The more measurable the impact, the better you can assess their capabilities.
Red Flags and Positive Indicators
Pay attention to vague or overly general answers. If a candidate can’t clearly articulate their role in past achievements or avoids discussing failures, it could indicate a lack of experience or self-awareness. On the other hand, strong candidates will offer honest reflections, specific examples, and a clear link between their work and business outcomes.
Positive indicators include proactive problem-solving, the ability to simplify complex data, and a track record of continuous improvement. Look for those who think beyond the numbers to influence strategy.
Post-Interview Evaluation and Decision-Making
Comparative Analysis
After interviews, don’t rely solely on gut feel. Use a consistent evaluation rubric that scores candidates against the role’s core competencies. Benchmark their responses and experiences against each other and your predefined criteria.
Scoring systems provide an objective basis for discussion and reduce the risk of unconscious bias. They help hiring teams focus on evidence over impressions, leading to more reliable hiring decisions.
Final Deliberation
Once scoring is complete, gather feedback from everyone involved in the interviews. Multiple perspectives are essential, especially for leadership roles. Encourage debate but anchor decisions to evidence gathered during the process.
Before making an offer, conduct detailed reference checks that explore the candidate’s experience, reliability, and cultural fit. Speak to previous line managers or senior peers where possible, and verify key achievements.
Macildowie’s Role in Enhancing Finance Recruitment
Macildowie supports employers at every stage of the finance recruitment journey. Our consultative approach begins with understanding your business goals, team structure, and role requirements. We help you create role profiles that go beyond the job description, identifying what success really looks like.
We provide structured interview frameworks tailored to specific finance roles, along with example questions that cover technical, behavioural, and strategic competencies. Our team also offers real-time feedback and benchmarking insights to help you make confident decisions.
Where needed, we provide support in final interviews and post-offer engagement, ensuring candidate experience remains strong from first contact to day one.
Conclusion
Interviews are not just a step in the hiring process - they're a crucial opportunity to uncover how candidates think, solve problems, and communicate under pressure. In finance roles, where accuracy, integrity, and strategic insight are critical, interviews offer a window into whether someone can truly contribute to your business success. When done well, they reveal far more than what's written on a CV: they clarify how a person applies knowledge, how they’ve added value in the past, and how they might adapt to your organisation's unique demands.
Macildowie supports employers in transforming their interview process into a competitive advantage. With our structured methodologies, tailored interview frameworks, and industry-specific insights, we help you evaluate candidates with confidence and consistency. Whether you're hiring your first finance professional or strengthening a senior leadership team, our goal is to ensure you attract and secure the right talent - those who will stay, deliver, and lead. Together, we build stronger, smarter finance teams.
