Hiring Marketers: what I learned the hard way….

Having had 20+ years of experience in Marketing, I have had the fortune to work for great companies as well as lead and grow large marketing teams across Asia-Pacific and Europe. Based on my experience in hiring, developing and retaining key marketing talent, I have learnt to better understand the skillsets that people need in order to become great marketers. And these may not be the ones you would have immediately thought of… ?here's my secret sauce to success:

?When interviewing potential candidates, I first look at the personality of the candidate. ?

?●????How’s the communication style? Is the person communicative, is he or she not afraid to ask (good) questions, is there a level of confidence in their voice, are they able to structure their thoughts and present their thoughts convincingly, how do they carry themselves and are they polite? To me, these skillsets are at the core of marketing. As a marketer, you need to be able to deal with customers, sales people and many other stakeholders in an organisation so these will help to be successful in the role. It matters even more if you are part of a marketing consultancy firm, which I’m running now.

●????Creativity and problem-solving. A certain level of creativity is required when you head into the field of marketing. This creativity not only helps to develop innovative ideas to further the business but also assists in problem-solving. Often I ask for examples of prior work done and test these with a small assignment, something they need to prepare for the next interview round.

?●????Attention to detail. As a marketer, there are a lot of eyes on the work you do. So often, I have seen marketers making careless mistakes or overlooking a critical item which can put the sales teams in an awkward situation with their customers. Hence, it’s important marketers think proactively and have a level of attention to detail. To me, this is an essential skill that companies should be looking for when hiring a marketer. Needless to say, this is critical when hiring marketing consultants who are providing outsourced marketing services to clients.

?●????Leadership (potential). Does the candidate show any potential for taking on leadership positions in the future? This can be inside or outside work. Have they lead any initiatives or projects? Has he or she been the captain of a sports team or the organiser of an event? Often this also demonstrated a level of proactiveness and being solution-oriented.

?Only after I have validated these, I will then move on to validating the hard skills. The reality is that often these can be trained and if candidates have the right mindset, passion and interest, they shouldn’t fully determine your decision.?