Ask the Right Questions to Hire Online Marketers
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It’s not easy to find the right fit when you have an open position to fill. Of course, you want the most qualified candidates, but you also want to be sure that the new hire will fit in with the corporate culture you have developed and a work style that also jives with the environment.
The standard and much-dreaded questions such as “What is your ideal job?”; “Where do you see yourself in 2 or 5 years? “; or “What is your biggest flaw?” Just don’t cut it anymore. Besides they are expected questions that often just have some job seekers spitting out rehearsed responses.
Finding the ideal employee can be particularly difficult in the digital marketing space. Many of the online marketing disciplines are new, technology changes rapidly, methods and best practices are constantly evolving and terminology is often misused or has multiple meanings within different segments, which can cause communication issues.
In addition, most hiring for online marketing is largely based on past job history and well, performance. But instead of dwelling on the past, a superior alternative is to develop questions focused on real problems, the specific job you are hiring for, and your business.
It is imperative to understand how job candidates will perform now at your company. That requires getting them to demonstrate how they will solve the problems that they will face in their job; demonstrate they are forward-looking and that they can provide for the future.
A recently published article called 12 Interview Questions That Will Reveal the Very Best Candidates was very insightful breaking down the interview questions into four distinct categories:
- Questions relating to identifying, solving real problems
- Questions that show you are forward looking
- Questions about a candidate’s ability to innovate, adapt, learn
- Help us better understand you
While, not specific to digital marketing, here are two of my favorites from the article that can be asked for any job at nearly any level.
Forecast the evolution of this job.
“Because our jobs constantly change and evolve, being forward-looking is critical if you are to be successful. So please project or forecast at least five different ways that the job you are applying for will likely change and evolve over the next three years as a result of business changes, technology changes, and a faster, more innovative environment.”
List and rank your job motivators.
“We want to ensure that we provide every employee with the right set of motivators. So please list the top five factors that you have found that best motivate you on the job. Please list them in their descending order of importance to you.”
The responses elicited from this line of question should provide some very telling insight. Plus, the questions are slightly out of the norm and can’t really be totally rehearsed.
If you are looking for a job in performance marketing or have an open position and looking to hire, check out the PMA’s Job Board. It’s free.
And just for fun, you can also check out Glassdoor’s Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions for 2014.
Lisa Picarille
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