The 6 Critical Questions To Ask & Answer In Your Marketing Interview
There are two types of questions here...the questions you’re going to ask, and questions you're going to answer.
The best thing about interviewing for a marketing role is that you should expect to be just that: a marketer.
You have the opportunity to really showcase your craft, your channel, or specialty. We’re all marketers at heart.
From our survey of 100 marketing hiring managers, we asked...
What’s the one thing that negatively impacts a candidate's chance of moving on or being hired?
The most popular answer was...Not having questions prepared.
We’re going to help fix that right now.
Another question that we asked was...
What's the absolute best question for a candidate to ask during an marketing interview?
We condensed their feedback, and below are the 3 questions you should be prepared to ask.
How do you find ways to continuously challenge your team to be better at what they do?
You’re asking this question to get a sense of the hiring manager, are they really looking out for their team’s growth? If they can’t answer this question easily, with a standard employee goal framework and professional growth plan, that’s a red flag that they’re not looking to develop you. They just want to plug you in and have you be a cog in their machine. Get a sense for how they plan to develop you as a marketing professional.
How does the company address changes in the digital marketing landscape, and can you provide an example?
You’re asking this question because you want to see how nimble or innovative the company is. Are they forward-thinking, or are they reactive? You just want to get a sense of where they are in the spectrum of marketing maturity. Are they talking about nascent channels like voice search? Are they talking about the changing state of ecommerce? Are they talking about the trends in marketing strategy, tactics, and technology? Their answer to this should be enlightening.
After 90-days in the role, what metrics are we discussing to get a sense of success?
Are they prepared to put you in a position to succeed? Have they already thought about what your KPIs will be for the role? Do they already know how to set expectations and gauge my performance. If they can’t articulate their plan for performance measurement, that’s another red flag.
These three questions are critical to ask your hiring manager. If you can find a natural opening in your discussion, great - better to deliver organically.
But if no opportunity presents itself, you'll need to create one. Even if you have to save them until the end of the meeting, these questions need to be addressed.
Also, be sure to rehearse these a few times prior to the interview so that they roll off your tongue, as though you've asked them a hundred times before.
Now, here are the 3 questions that you should be prepared to answer. Keep in mind, they won’t be phrased exactly like these are, but pay attention to the concept, the thrust of the question, and the desired answer:
What’s an example of a brand that you think does [Channel] well, and why?
For example, social media, paid search, SEO, email - this depends on the role you’re interviewing with. Have a brand prepared here, either that you feel is an innovator, or one that you have a deep affinity for. You want this excitement to come out in your answer. Elaborate on what you think this brand is doing exceptionally well. This is an easy home run answer.
What’s a hobby that you’re passionate about, and how do you do it?
What are you so passionate about that you’d do it for free? Now, this question is designed to do two things - yes, to let you open up about something you’re passionate about, and how you explain something. But secondly, to see how well you can communicate complex subjects. You’re passionate about playing guitar; now tell me how you learned how to play it, and how would I go about learning it? Can you explain something complex to a stranger who knows nothing about the subject? If yes, then you can explain complexity related to the role to your peers, clients, or managers.
Based on what you’ve researched about our brand, what can we be doing better?
The answer necessitates having done what we said before: pre-interview research. And, as a reminder, you’ll have to make some assumptions.
Make assumptions about what you’re seeing, about what the brand might have already tried. Be prepared to talk about their social media profiles, their thought leadership content, their brand positioning, SEO sophistication, ad creative, or products and services.
This question is also designed to do two things. Yes, to see if you’re interested enough in them as an employer to have done some research; but also to see how well you analyze data and can explain research findings, feedback, and recommendations to a team member.
There you have it. Three questions to ask, and three questions to answer.
These six questions will give you the edge you need to nail the interview and get that dream marketing role.
And once you've knocked your interview out of the park, it's time for the last piece of the puzzle...The Interview Followup.