By Adam Turteltaub

Woo hoo! You got the interview. Now, how do you make the most out of the opportunity to determine if this is the job of your dreams or of your nightmares?

Lisa Fine, Senior Director, Global Ethics & Compliance at Pearson takes a break from her Great Women in Compliance podcast to share that you need first to focus on the basics, starting with who the job is reporting to, what the employer thinks the compliance program should be addressing, and what resources you will have in the role.

Learning that information early, either from the position description, recruiter or your own online searches, will enable to you maximize the time in the interview on more sophisticated matters such what they anticipate the role becoming and how real the commitment to compliance is.

Some other things to scope out during the interview:

Is the job in-person, remote or hybrid, and how does the rest of the company work? If you’re the only remote employee, that may be a warning sign.

What do the code of conduct and annual report indicate about the compliance program?

Are you the chief compliance officer, or do multiple individuals hold that title?

Why is the job currently open? What happened to your predecessor can be telling.

Is there a helpline, and how easy is it to make a report?

Finally, she advises spending some time asking yourself what it is that you want from the job. It’s very different if you are looking for your first compliance job, than if you are looking to it to be your last.

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