INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Contents General Interview Questions - Page 3 Culture Fit Questions - Page 4 PR Interview Questions - Page 5 Sales Interview Questions - Page 6 Digital marketing interview questions - Page 7 Marketing questions - Page 8
GENERAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Why should we hire you? What are some of the traits you look for in a leader? What do you think your main challenges will be in this role? How would you describe your learning style? What has been your most significant achievement to date? What can you do for us that someone else can t? What interested you about our company? What made you apply for this position? What s your favourite joke? Where do you see yourself in one, three and five years? Why are you looking to leave your current position? What part of your previous experience do you think translates to being successful here? How would you approach a superior with a suggestion, problem or criticism? What s your best dance move? How many flights fly out of the North Terminal at Heathrow every day? What was a typical day like at your past position? What do you hope to learn from this job? Explain a database in three sentences to your eight year old nephew? How would you describe leadership? What is your biggest weakness? How many cups of coffee are drunk in London every day? Can you give me three adjectives that best describe you as a person? Can you give me three adjectives that best describe you as an employee? Can you give me an example of a failure you had at work and what you learned from it? What is your biggest strength? What keeps you motivated? How does this job fit into your career plan? How do you react to instruction and criticism? Why did you leave your last job? Why are manhole covers round? Page 3
CULTURE FIT QUESTIONS How do you like to be managed? How would you describe the corporate culture of your past company? How do you define success? What types of managers do you learn best under? When was the last time in work that you were unable to do something alone? What s the greatest day of work you ve had in your career so far? If you knew your manager was 100% wrong how would you handle it? What core values should all great companies possess? How would you describe the people at your past company? Can you give me an example of a failure you had at work and what you learned from it? What makes a good team? What are the strengths that you bring with you to this organization? What personality traits do you clash with? Suppose you are asked to restore the confidence of senior leaders in your (or team s) ability, despite a recent failure. How would you go about that? What was your biggest failure and who was responsible for it? What do you consider to be the perfect work/life balance? Tell me about the very first thing you did that you ever got paid for Tell me the one thing that is most important to you in making your next career move. Is it money, recognition, stability, challenge, or environment? What does teamwork mean to you? How important is routine to you? Who inspires you and why? What can your hobbies and interests tell me about you that your CV can t? What have you done to contribute toward a teamwork environment? How do you rely on others to make you better? What are your three ideal job qualities? What kinds of situations do you find most stressful? Describe the work environment or culture in which you are most productive and happy. How well do you adapt to change? Have you ever dealt with company policy you weren t in agreement with? What are the characteristics exhibited by the best boss you have ever had, or wished that you have had? Page 4
PR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Entry Level/Assistant/Executive Level Questions Mid-level management Senior management/director Level Questions Why do you want a career in PR? Can you tell me about a recent PR campaign that you thought worked well and why Can you tell me about a recent PR campaign that you thought failed and why What current news stories would you want to hijack for xxx client What areas of PR or communications do you see growing / being important in the future Can you tell me about your favourite campaign you worked on How do you measure your personal and team ROI on campaigns How much involvement do you have in new business What media win are you most proud of? Tell me about a time when you had to overcome a challenge with an individual or group when developing and executing a PR campaign? What was the most difficult situation you have been in when responding to media and public enquiries. What made it difficult? How did you handle it? What are the advantages and disadvantages of appointing a PR consultancy? What writing experience do you have in PR? What is the value of the new business you have contributed to in the last 12 months What would you consider to be your most creative or effective campaign? How would you prioritize and start your work day? How would you deal with a PR crisis? What would you do if a client or manager disagreed with your PR strategy? How would you go about finding relevant contacts and sources? Which PR firms do you admire and why? Which media outlets do you follow? How would you describe public relations to a five year old? How do you use social media to reach and impress traditional media? Can you give me 3-5 key publications and/or journalists that you would target for X client Describe a time you had to manage negative media attention. Describe a time your PR communications were misunderstood by your target audience. How did you handle it? Who are the current members of your team? What are their respective roles? What PR professionals do you admire and why? How is PR different from advertising? What s interesting about our current PR work? What would you improve? Page 5
SALES INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Entry Level/Assistant/Executive Level Questions Mid-level questions Senior management/director Level Questions What motivates you as a sales professional? What traits do you believe make up the most effective sales representatives? What is your typical average order value and what s the largest deal you ve secured to date? How comfortable are you with cold-calling? What sales quotas are you accustomed to? What percentage of leads did you convert into sales at your past job? How would you describe your ideal sales manager? How do you feel about meeting face to face with clients and giving presentations? What skills do you believe make for a great sales representative? Why did you choose sales as a profession? How would you describe the selling style of your former manager? Where would you like to see yourself improve in the area of sales? Can you give me an example of where you have had to demonstrate resilience How long was the average sales cycle at your previous jobs? How would you describe your sales technique? How much was an average sale at your previous position? Can you give me an example of a complex contract negotiation you ve completed and how you did it? What are some common hurdles you re facing right now as a sales representative in your current position? Give me an example of how you handled a difficult client in order to get the sale, and what did you learn from the experience? How would you describe your ideal sales position? How did your past company obtain its leads? How would you describe your ideal sales lead? Can you give me an example pitch of the product or service you were selling at your previous position? Who were your most profitable target markets at your previous jobs? Who would you say our largest competitors are and what are they doing well? How would you sell our brand in 30 seconds? What USP s do we have? Where do you rank in your sales team for revenue generated YTD? YOY targets for the last 3 years percentage of targets achieved. What sales personalities do you admire and why? How closely do you work with other divisions? What is your sales approach for a new prospect? Page 6
DIGITAL MARKETING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Entry Level/Assistant/Executive Level Questions Mid-level management Senior management/director Level Questions What attracted you to the digital marketing industry? Have you looked at our company website, can you suggest how you would improve it? What experience do you have in the digital marketing field? How would you describe digital marketing to a five year old? What analytics tools have you used for tracking digital marketing? What would you contribute to a digital marketing team? What about digital marketing interests you most? If you had to choose one digital marketing niche and do it full time, what would it be? What company do you admire for their digital marketing and why? What digital marketing professional do you admire and why? What SEO improvements do you feel could be made to our site? How would you respond to a social media crisis? Tell me about your most successful marketing campaign? How do you foresee the future of online marketing? What website CMS platforms have you administered in the past? How do you measure ROI? Which social media brand strategy has inspired you lately? How do you assess engagement/the value of a visitor to the business? What is your policy on moderating comments on social media? What area of online marketing are you most effective at? Can you talk to me about a content strategy that you have implemented? Talk about one of your most effective campaigns. What made them so effective? What does the conversion funnel look like at your company? How many people are in your current team? What are their roles? What is your experience with marketing automation? What is your approach to structuring a budget? Describe a time your team didn t agree with your direction. How did you handle it? What is your plan for growing our business using digital marketing? What do you see as your goals during first 6 months of working with our company? When was the last time you were in a crises? Page 7
MARKETING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Entry Level/Assistant/Executive Level Questions Mid-level management Senior management/director Level Questions Can you talk to me about a recent marketing campaign that you liked? What metrics do you measure yourself on? You ve been tasked with redesigning the company s brand strategy from the ground up. Walk me through your process. Why did you choose a career in marketing? How will you measure ROI? What factors do you consider the most important when attempting to influence consumer behaviour? How would you describe marketing to a five year old? What technology will you use to promote your brand? How would you provide social media power to your employees? What skills do you bring that we don't already have? How long will it take to see results? How do you get the best out of your agencies? Why? If you had to choose one marketing niche and do it full time what would it be? What aspect of marketing do you enjoy the most? What additional training would you want to improve your marketing skills? What company do you admire for their marketing activity and why? What marketing professional do you admire and why? What marketing budget are you used to working with? How do you keep up to date with changes in the field? Tell us about a marketing project in which you had to coordinate and manage a diverse team of people. Give an example of how you have effectively managed a tight budget to accomplish a marketing activity. Can you give me an example of a campaign that did not work out as you had planned? Can you provide me a recent example where you were responsible for changing the strategy for your brand that had measurable impact on the revenue line? How large was the advertising budget that you were responsible for? What do you think of brand X? What have you seen of it? What would you like to change? What team factors do you focus on as a manager to drive marketing effectiveness? Describe a few innovative ways to influence consumer behaviour What will your goals be after taking this job? What are the biggest challenges a marketing manager faces today? The world has gone through an economic meltdown in recent years. What are the challenges faced by marketers today? How did you deal with such tough situations? Page 8