You've spent countless hours crafting the perfect job description, interviewing candidates, and weeding through the applications to find someone who, on paper at least, seems like a perfect fit. But what if you're overlooking red flags that could be deal-breakers? You don't want to hire someone who has a sketchy understanding of digital marketing or whose idea of "marketing success" is getting more likes on Facebook. So how can you tell whether your candidate is just good at interviews or whether they have the skill set necessary to contribute to your organization's marketing goals? Here are some things to have in mind whenever deciding if a candidate is a perfect fit for your business.
Digital marketing is a key component of any company's marketing strategy. In fact, it's the use of digital technologies such as social media, search engines, and online advertising to promote a product or service.
So how do you ensure that your prospective marketing manager candidate understands what digital marketing is, how it works and where it fits into their role?
When you ask a candidate to describe a marketing problem they have solved, it gives you an opportunity to hear the candidate's thought process in action. You can learn about their resourcefulness and creativity by listening carefully as they talk through their solution.
When candidates discuss how they would tackle your organization's specific marketing problems, it allows for an opportunity for you to gauge whether or not this individual is capable of adapting his or her skill set to fit your unique needs. This process also helps clarify if he or she has experience with overcoming similar challenges in the past.
In addition to hearing how a candidate approaches solving marketing problems, it will also allow him or her time (and give yourself time) to explain what he/she learned during each step of that process so that if hired later on down the road with no prior knowledge on how things are done here at [insert company name], we can be confident that there won't be any miscommunication between departments due simply because one person has more experience than another when tackling certain tasks.
Asking the candidate to share their experience with a recent challenge is a great way to gauge whether they’re a good fit. If they can’t answer it, that might be because they haven’t faced any challenges lately or because they don't want to acknowledge them in an interview setting. If the candidate has faced challenges but doesn't have anything specific that comes to mind, ask them if there was ever a time when things were especially difficult. Then ask how they handled the situation, how things turned out for them, and how they would handle similar situations in the future.
If you find candidates who don't want to share their experiences and stories with you (or anyone else), then it's probably not worth hiring them as marketing managers for your business!
Asking what marketing campaigns the candidate admires is an effective way to gauge their interest in and knowledge of the industry. You can ask about specific campaigns that have recently been publicized or more general ones like "the best marketing campaign you've ever seen."
The candidate's answer will tell you a lot about how well they know what works in terms of getting your message out there. If they say they don't know anything about certain campaigns, ask them if they would like to learn more by reading articles or watching videos on the subject. You can also encourage them with questions like "What do you think makes this campaign so successful?" or "What would make it even better?" This gives the applicant insight into your company's values and priorities, which will help them create more effective strategies for reaching consumers.
When interviewing a candidate for a marketing manager position, it is important to fully understand how they understand their role in your organization. To do this, ask them to describe the role they are interviewing for and then dig deeper. Ask them what they think their daily tasks will be as well as more general questions such as how they envision the department is structured and how much interaction they expect to have with other departments within your company. This will give you a sense of whether or not this candidate understands exactly what it is that makes up your company's day-to-day operations, who their peers will be, and who reports directly to them (or not).
There's a lot to cover when you're interviewing for a marketing manager position. But the most important thing is to understand your candidate's level of experience, knowledge of digital marketing and social media, and ability to solve problems. If you keep these questions in mind, you'll be on your way to choosing the best person for the job!