Interview Tip #6: Strategic Questions

As a Marketing Recruiter, I often find that well-prepared candidates work hard on having smart, concise responses to interview questions.  What they often fail to do is have good insightful questions for the interviewer.  Everyone knows that asking if Arbor Day is a company holiday is a terrible question.  But what candidates often ask are…

Recruiting Marketing Talent Isn’t Ice Fishing!

What does ice fishing have to do with talent acquisition?  As a Marketing Recruiter based in Minnesota, I find this to be an apt analogy for many companies’ talent acquisition efforts. Consider this:  A marketing leader for a potential MedTech client stated that they were having trouble finding talent to fill critical roles.  I asked…

Marketing is Everything

Marketing is Everything.  This statement is as true today as it was when Regis McKenna first penned his article in the early 90’s.  This is not to say that Marketing is the most important function in an organization.  It is saying that marketing is every functions role.  And as we move towards a Post COVID-19…

Interview Tip #5: Interview Jiu Jitsu

Are you prepared to Enter The Dragon? Jiu Jitsu students learn to use their opponent’s energy to defeat them.  Savvy candidates can use a similar technique during their interviews.  I am not advocating throwing your interviewer to the ground.  Learning Interview Jiu Jitsu can help candidates leverage the energy that the interviewer has around specific…

Interview Tip #4: Validating Questions

As a marketing executive recruiter, I have been stunned by the number of mind readers that are out there.  Who are these mind readers?  They are otherwise very talented candidates who simply pass on the opportunity to ask questions during an interview. I am not talking about the solicited questions that always seem to come…

Marketers Need To Market Themselves

Marketer, Market Thyself! What is the best product that many marketers appear to never want to market?  It’s themselves! Picture this, a CEO named Jesse hops into an elevator with a marketing manager named Jane.  Recognizing her, Jesse says “Hi Jane.  What’s new?”.  Jane says “Not much” or talks about her new puppy.  Either response…

The Future of Product Management belongs to…?

To whom or what does the future of product management belong?  Is it AI solutions taking over the function? Is it virtual reality tools that can conceive and prototype products in seconds? Is it new crowdsourcing tools to get Voice of the Customer instantaneously? As a classically trained marketer turned leading executive recruiter for marketing…

Interview Tip #3: Be a STAR!

“Tell me about a time when you….” or “What is your experience doing ….?”  I have seen many smart, articulate marketers and business leaders absolutely freeze with simple questions like these.  Or worse yet, they give 15-minute-long answers that don’t answer the question and completely lose the interviewer. When prepping my candidates for interviews, and…

What inspires you?

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure of being inspired by the nation’s first youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman.  This appeal to our better angels to make for a more just and inclusive union harkened back to a time when a president once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what…

Interviewing Tip #2: Clarifying Questions

“That’s an excellent answer…to a completely different question.” One of the most basic pieces of interview advice I have given to candidates is to make sure that they understand what the interviewer is really asking with what I call Clarifying Questions. Often interviewers will ask questions in a more nebulous fashion (see my posting on passive-aggressive interviewing).  They assume…