Ace Your Marketing Job Interview

The key to dramatically increase your odds of getting a job offer

Generic interview advice is easy to find but getting practical advice tailored specifically to our roles as a marketer is another matter. As aspiring candidates looking to take that next step in our careers, we intrinsically understand that standing out in a job interview is critical. Yet, we often fail to differentiate ourselves when speaking with the marketing executives.

During the interview, we tend to speak mundanely about specific tactical activities we have undertaken but rarely focus on the thing that actually matters — the tangible outcome of our actions.

As a result, we fail to make a meaningful impression with our potential future boss. Because we do not properly articulate our impact on the business, we risk fading into a sea of uniform and mediocre-sounding candidates.

But there is a better way.

Having interviewed many marketing candidates over the years, as well as based on research with 100+ marketing executives, I have identified certain tendencies and behaviors that distinguish the top talent from the rest of the pack.

Based on these observations, here is practical advice that will help you ace your next job interview, especially as you advance into leadership roles.

Focus on outcomes, not activities:

The most common mistake marketers make during an interview is to recite a laundry list of activities they have undertaken in their current/past job without ever tying anything back to tangible business outcomes.

If you have several years of work experience, I’m going to assume that you have already participated in a campaign or launched a website or whatever your role is. As marketing professionals, we tend to forget that the activity you are engaged in is not the end goal. But as a hiring manager, I don’t care about activity. I want to know about the outcomes. What were your goals? What was the result of the campaign? What was the impact on revenue? How much did you increase market share or reduce churn? Tell me the goal and how you drove the business to achieve that goal.

Here are some practical tips for how to achieve this. Follow these and you’ll be certain to set yourself apart from the competition.

Be data-driven:

Examples of tangible business outcomes will vary depending on the goal. But they should be quantifiable and can include measures such as:

• Impact on revenue
• Market share growth
• Product adoption by customer type or new penetration in key market segments
• Conversion rates for an event or campaign (No one cares about leads or MQLs. Focus on how many you converted into paying customers.)

The point is, be data-driven and you will make a far stronger impression.

Think “before and after”:

I once interviewed a candidate who really impressed me with her ability to provide a clear ‘before and after’ picture. For each part of her resume I probed into, she was able to articulate in straightforward terms what the situation was beforehand and how she changed it for the better. All the while, she also indirectly related how she could apply that experience to the role for which she was interviewing. This gives me a tangible insight into her outcomes-focused mindset.

Articulate your unique value proposition:

As marketers, we spend a fair amount of our time thinking about how to differentiate ourselves from the competition. So that logic should also extend to ourselves as candidates. The best candidates are able to clearly articulate three specific skills or experiences that make them uniquely suited to the job. Simply stating that you like to think out of the box or are a master storyteller is not good enough — give your hiring manager something far more specific and tangible.

Stand out by asking strategic marketing questions:

The types of questions a candidate asks me are a major insight into their capabilities. The vast majority tend to ask tactical and low-level questions. What are your benefits, how quickly are you looking to fill this role, etc.

If you want to stand out, ask strategic questions that require critical thinking and a higher-level response from the hiring manager. What is the vision for your organization and what are the main obstacles to achieving it? Tell me about a key customer you have lost and why they left. How has your go-to-market strategy changed over time? How has the competition compelled you to evolve?

If you ask strategic questions, you signal that you possess a deeper level of thinking and understand how to take ownership of your program.

One caveat: if you simply respond with “OK” to each answer and then move on to the next question, you communicate that you are asking questions merely as part of the process. This will count against you. The purpose of asking questions is to engage the hiring manager in a two-way discussion that provides you with insight into the role while also impressing the interviewer with your knowledge. My recommendation is to arrive at your interview with at least three strategic discussion points.

Last but not least: prepare for interviews well in advance

None of us are born great interviewers. Just like anything else, it requires extensive preparation to get it right. Expert marketing job seekers will begin the interview process when they are not even looking for a job. You can get a headstart over all of the other marketers competing for the same job by reading “Up Your Game: The Definitive Guide to Acing Your Marketing Job Interview.” I promise you, it will be worth your time.

And if you more advive about marketing job interviews, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.