Senior IT Professionals Must Build Trust Before the Interview, Says Ehsan Ali Au

In a recent LinkedIn post, Ehsan Ali Au discusses a critical challenge facing experienced IT professionals in the job market: the inability of hiring managers to clearly perceive their value before the interview stage. Au highlights the experience of a senior IT leader with twenty years of experience and a strong delivery record who, despite leading major transformations, found himself repeatedly unsuccessful in final interview rounds.

Au posits that the issue wasn’t a lack of market demand but a failure in pre-interview positioning. “Most senior professionals focus their energy on the interview process,” Au writes. “Hiring managers start forming opinions long before you walk into the room.” This initial impression, often shaped by a LinkedIn profile, a referral, or a brief introduction, hinges on a single, crucial question from the hiring manager: “Do I feel comfortable betting on this person?”

The Role of Trust and Risk in Senior Hires

According to Ehsan Ali Au, the landscape for senior-level hiring is fundamentally driven by trust, familiarity, and the perception of risk. “At senior level, hiring runs on trust, familiarity and perceived risk,” Au explains. If a candidate’s value proposition is not immediately apparent, they risk being relegated to a ‘maybe’ pile. In competitive markets like Australia, Au notes that this often translates into missed opportunities, with hiring managers opting for other candidates or extending offers significantly below the candidate’s actual worth.

“If your value is not obvious quickly, you become a maybe.”

This underscores Au’s central argument: the traditional approach of waiting for an interview to articulate one’s value is insufficient for senior roles. The market has evolved, and candidates need to proactively shape perceptions.

Shifting the Paradigm: Visible Value Over Activity

Ehsan Ali Au emphasizes the distinction between describing activities and communicating impact. He uses a powerful example to illustrate this point:

“Led a cloud migration” describes activity. “Prevented a $2M security exposure during a live cloud migration” communicates business impact.

As Au points out, the experience is identical, but the ‘signal’ sent to a potential employer is vastly different. The former is a task, while the latter demonstrates tangible business value and risk mitigation – precisely what senior leaders are looking for. This shift in framing is crucial for senior IT professionals aiming to stand out.

Proactive Positioning is Key

The core message from Ehsan Ali Au is a call to action for senior IT professionals to move beyond reactive job seeking. “The people breaking through make their value visible long before the opportunity appears,” Au states. This proactive strategy involves building familiarity and demonstrating value before a specific role is even advertised or applied for.

“Stop waiting for the interview to make your case. Build familiarity before the role exists.”

Au suggests that by consistently showcasing their impact and value through their professional presence, particularly on platforms like LinkedIn, senior professionals can cultivate the trust and reduce the perceived risk that hiring managers seek. This approach, he argues, is essential for breaking through salary ceilings, such as the $300K mark in Australia, and securing the roles they deserve.

For those interested in learning more about this strategic approach, Ehsan Ali Au is running free live sessions in June. He invites interested individuals to DM him the word “JUNE” for more details.