Communications Specialist Interview Preparation Guide

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A growth-focused content marketer will be curious and always keeping an eye out for success stories from other companies and industries. Even an entry level content marketer should have a general idea of what stand-out content looks like. You’ll get a great idea on what the candidate feels is valuable and if it matches with what you're looking for.

Everyone prefers to work in a certain way and companies are no different. This question is especially important during a phone screen or initial pre-screen; if you work in an office that is mostly silent and music-free and a candidate says they thrive in a collaborative and busy environment, it may be not a great fit.

Figure out how your potential product marketer likes to lead, and how they utilize other team members and communicate between teams. Gone are the days where product launches could be rushed and still be successful. There should be a process, and this process can’t be exclusive to just the marketing team.

Don’t underestimate questions that have nothing to do with work because, surprise, they have everything to do with work. You’re investing in a person, not just an employee, and ensuring that you can put trust in that person. This question will show you what motivates a candidate, and what’s important to them.

Team building activities might seem boring or forced, but they come in all forms and can differ quite a lot from company to company. Ask this question to discover how a candidate interacts with others and if they’re able to work seamlessly with a team to create an innovative solution to a problem. They even might have a great idea for your next team building event.

This can show how someone likes to be managed as well as how they like to manage others. There’s a reason this question gets asked all the time; it’s one best indicators if a candidate is going to work well within an existing team and the company at large. If a candidate thrives on organization and instruction, for example, they might not be the best fit for a flat team that requires autonomy and self-management - and vice versa!

In my current position I was appointed the lead of a project in which we were marketing a client’s newest product. Since it was a digital program, I thought it would be best to do heavy social media marketing. After brainstorming with my team, we came up with the marketing concept and tested it on a select online test group. The test was a success, so we then began the full scale marketing campaign. I designated the various aspects of the project to different team members according to their strengths and oversaw the full implementation of the campaign until the end. The product was well-received in the target market, and is still heavily utilized today.

☛ Please give me your definition of ____.
☛ To help us build the best company reputation, what do you think matters most in ____?
☛ What motivated you to get into ____?
☛ Tell us briefly about your career to date in ____.
☛ Could you tell me about your current role and the range of ____ activities that you do?
☛ Do you think anyone can do ____?
☛ What are your greatest achievements in ____?
☛ Why do you think it matters whether or not a company does ____?
☛ Can you imagine a situation in a company where it would be best not to do any ____?
☛ When it comes to performance appraisals, what Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) do you think are important for this ____ job?
☛ What do you think it takes to be a really good ____ person?
☛ What excites you about ____?
☛ Assume you do well in this job. Where do you see yourself in ____ in five years’ time?
☛ What parts of ____ don’t you like doing?
☛ Tell me about skills or areas you want to improve upon in your ____ work?
☛ What makes for good writing when doing ____?
☛ What would you say makes you stand out from all the other candidates for ____?
☛ What personal skills or attributes do you think are most important to do ____?
☛ If we gave you this job, what would you prioritise doing in ____ in the first weeks and months ahead?
☛ Why do you think a company should do ____?
☛ Can you give me some examples of what you think is bad about our profile and how ____ could help to improve it?
☛ What do you think should be included in an activity report to management for ____? What do you think they would consider the most important?
☛ Say you had to write a weekly report to your manager about what you did in ____. What would you consider vital to include?
☛ What sort of challenges do you look forward to in ____, and why?
☛ Can you give an example or two of dealing with those challenges successfully?
☛ How do you see ____ working best with other departments in a business?
☛ How do you help protect our reputation and minimise risk to it by doing ____?
☛ What makes a good ____ person?
☛ Can you give some examples of what you’ve done in ____ that helped to protect or even grow your last employer’s reputation?
☛ Can you give me an example of ____ work that you did that you weren’t happy with – and why?
☛ What most attracts you to this ____ position?
☛ You’ve read the job spec for this ____ position. Let’s say there was one thing you’d like to add or delete from the responsibilities. What would it be – and why?
☛ Tell us about a ____ project you did that you would do different now, if you had a chance?
☛ How would you explain “integrated communications” – what does it mean to you?
☛ How do you think ____ can help, when a company is facing a crisis?
☛ Do you think every business should have a ____ policy or set of guidelines?
☛ If we asked you to write ____ guidelines for all of employees, what would you include in them?
☛ If we looked at all of your social media accounts and everything you’d published publicly, would we find anything that would be embarrassing to you or to our company in the future?
☛ What do you look for in a ____ job?
☛ What do you think are the elements that go into making a really good ____ campaign?
☛ Do you think employees outside of the ____ department should be allowed or encouraged to contribute content for ____?
☛ If yes, can you give some examples of how?
☛ Could you prepare a budget for a ____?
☛ What elements go into planning a budget for a ____ campaign?
☛ How do you cope with stress and pressure in ____?
☛ Tell us how you use ____ in your own life, if at all?
☛ Do you believe in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in ____?
☛ Have you used any monitoring tools or applications for doing ____? (If yes, give us your recommendations for them.)
☛ If you do, what do you think should be offered in CPD?
☛ We believe good writing skills are essential for any job in ____. Do you agree or not? Can you explain to us why?
☛ What companies do you admire most in our industry for their ____ work? Can you give us a few examples to explain why?
☛ What do you think the secret of success is when doing ____?
☛ What other companies do you admire for the ____ work that they do?
☛ How do you measure success in a ____ campaign?
☛ Do you think ____ can help us grow our sales? If so, can you give us examples of how?
☛ How do you see your job in ____ evolving over time?
☛ What ____ skills of yours do you feel are most underused right now and that you’d like to do more of in this job?
☛ Tell us about any vocational training you’ve had to improve your skills in ____.
☛ How much do you think ____ is about psychology or empathy? Explain why.
☛ Can you see yourself being a leader of ____?

☛ If you get hired, initially what will be your major focus areas?
☛ What would you do when there is a disagreement with a PR manager about a campaign?
☛ Say, during an event, a conflict creates between one of your executives and a visitor, how would you handle the situation?
☛ What types of challenges do you face when responding to the inquiries of reporters?

☛ How does your background make you a good fit for the role?
☛ What media outlets do you follow?
☛ What’s your experience organizing events?
☛ What are elements of interactive public relations?
☛ Describe how you use social media for corporate communications
☛ Are you familiar with our PR efforts? What would you change?
☛ What do you know about our products/firm? Why do you want to work here?
☛ How is content important for communications?
☛ What are things you should consider when planning a press conference?
☛ What methods can you use for effective internal communications?

☛ Why do you think you are a perfect candidate for the job role?
☛ Name the media outlets you follow and why?
☛ Share about your experience of organizing events.
☛ Name the key elements of interactive public relations.
☛ How do you use social media for corporate communications?
☛ Do you know about our PR efforts? Suggest a few changes.
☛ Describe our firm/products. Why do you want to work with our company?
☛ How important is content for communication
☛ What things do you keep in mind or consider when planning a press conference?
☛ What methods do you use to establish effective internal communication

☛ Tell me about a time when you successfully used your crisis management skills.
☛ What is the most challenging PR problem you have ever faced? How did you come out of it
☛ Tell me about a campaign you are most proud of. What made the campaign so successful?
☛ Tell me about a time a campaign failed very badly. What have you learnt from that experience
☛ Share about a time when you had to deal with a stubborn and egoistic external stakeholder. How did you manage the things?

☛ Recall a time you successfully used your crisis management skills
☛ Have you ever had to deal with a challenging PR problem? How did you do it?
☛ Describe a time you were successful in delivering the company message to a target audience. What was the key to its success?
☛ Tell me about a time a campaign didn’t perform as well as you expected. What should you have done differently?
☛ Recall a time you had to deal with a difficult external stakeholder. How did you manage?

☛ If you were hired tomorrow, what would you focus on?
☛ Imagine you’re having a disagreement with a PR manager on a campaign. How would you resolve this?
☛ If there was a conflict between a senior executive and an external party during an event, what could you do to diffuse the situation?
☛ What do you find challenging when responding to reporters’ inquiries?

☛ What do you know about our company and what interests you about our company?
☛ Describe your current position. What do you do?
☛ What is your favorite part of your job?
☛ What is your least favorite part of your job?
☛ How would you draw out stories from people?
☛ Are you more Huffington Post or Time in terms of your writing style?
☛ Describe the work you've done with SEO?
☛ Are you eligible to work in the US?
☛ If hired, would you be able to provide paperwork that would show your eligibility to work in the US?
☛ Why do you want to leave your current job?
☛ Anything else we should know about you?

This question illustrates the candidate's ability to identify previous weaknesses and how situations such as these may be used as an opportunity to improve.

Marketing is about building relationships and trust through promotion. What a candidate does in their free time can say a lot about how they’ll relate to clients and co-workers and how they’ll present information.

It also just goes to show that they’re passionate about something. One doesn't have to write a blog, do photography or be instafamous in their spare time to be a fantastic marketer. Your perfect candidate could love spending time baking at home or playing in a jazz band, what's important is that they show they’re dedicated and passionate.

This question illustrates the candidate’s ability to resolve conflict.

Is your candidate prepared and do they know what they’re talking about? That’s what this question addresses. You’ll be able to immediately pick up if they know what it takes to create a successful social media strategy and see if they’re well equipped to make impactful changes to your current strategy.

In today’s digital age I greatly enjoy social media marketing. It not only provides instant access to targeted audiences, it also provides a natural way to engage with those audiences. This helps to build trust, which is essential in effectively marketing a product. This particular platform also exposes you to various other audiences, which could become excellent target audiences. Such information is critical to the success of a campaign and proves to be quite invaluable. Social media is also great for its low cost and overall level of effectiveness and flexibility.

This question illustrates the candidate's ability to identify weaknesses in the communication process and indicates what the candidate is willing to implement in order to ensure effective communication.

Most people will hesitate to stretch this answer too far from the truth knowing full well that there’s a chance that you will be speaking to their previous boss as a reference. This question can reveal if a candidate can see themselves objectively.

You’ve probably have asked and been asked this question as it is such a good way to understand a candidate. It zeros in on the S-T-A-R components: Situation, Task, Action and Result of what a person feels was their most productive achievement. Get a feeling of their performance level, what they consider to be significant and how active they were in actually achieving it.

I have a few different skills that I utilize, but listening and communicating are the most critical. You not only need to be a good speaker, you also need to be able to listen to be able to fully understand an issue and to be able to properly articulate it to others. Problem solving is also an important skill I utilize in my efforts. I have found that when I am able to resolve smaller issues myself, it frees up the team to be able to focus on greater issues and ultimately helps to increase efficiency in completion of the project.

This question illustrates the candidate’s ability to multitask and prioritize tasks. It also illustrates how the candidate works under pressure.