Mastering CMO Interviews: What They Want to Hear, What To Watch For & More

There are interview best practices, and then there are chief marketing officer interview best practices. Last week's CMO Coffee Talk focused on how to navigate, manage and succeed in interviewing for your next CMO role.

We talked about industry vs cultural vs impact considerations, pros/cons of the "assignment", red flags to watch for and much more.

Highlights from the chat in both sessions are below. If you are a B2B CMO or head of marketing and want to join this community of ~1300 peers, let me know!

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Really look forward to hearing experiences and best practices on the CMO interview today.

The CMO Interview is all about pre-research, active listening, understanding personas and storytelling.

When interviewing, remember they need you as much as you might need/want them.?You are buying as much as you are selling!

What do you all think about the “CMO candidate assignment”?

I did a fairly onerous project for a company I was looking at last fall.?The process of working through it was very helpful for me — and ultimately caused me to turn down the role when it was offered.

We used the "assignment" for a recent Content Specialist role.?It helped us validate the person could review some information we sent them and quickly pull out the relevant points into a data sheet.?Given the complexity of our products, it was a really good use of our time.

Not sure if I agree. The approach I faced, when the company give 4 of their existing challenges and wants a presentation on the detailed how to solve them, it's questionable.

How can you really have all the context to the problems??You run the risk of being misguided in your response and judge on that vs the thinking/process.

At what point do you ask about the real challenges faced by and within the executive team? So you know their dynamic and if you have a chance at being successful?

Many companies don’t know what they need.?“Take marketing to the next level” is a phrase I have heard too many times.

I had a CEO ask me in an interview if he really needed a cmo or if it was just a title.?That was a sign that maybe they weren’t ready for a cmo!

My fave: It’s a VP marketing or a CMO role *depending on the person*

Interviewing the CFO is KEY!!!??They are your partner in reporting numbers.?You have to have a great ally relationship with the CFO.

The CFO has the keys to the kingdom.

Any specific tips when interviewing with a PE-owned company?

Our PE firm has a growth fund and a turnaround fund, so same firm but very different approach , KPI's and things they will support.

As a candidate, I sometimes have found the conversation around the assignment to be informative for me as to how they are currently thinking.?I do think there can be some value for candidates there...

Assignment has been so critical for roles on my team.?Has changed perception of the “leading candidate”.??That said, in this market, have had to scale back the assignment to expedite the process.

Re the assignment, I recommend making “Assumptions and Interdependencies” a clear part of your presentation in your assignment to call out the blind spots you know you have as you prepare your assignment.

I’d be concerned that they are looking to evaluate the plan, and will hire *the* plan that “they” think will work rather than hiring the person who can create dozens of plans over time.

If there is a CRO, understanding how their world is meant to live in harmony with the CMO.

3 most important interview/relationship development conversations are CEO, CRO, CFO. Marketing is often the largest spend outside of sales in B2B tech companies.

I have actually suggested an activity with hiring CEO when the company didnt have it as part of the process, I wanted to see how our working relationship would be so I framed a project proposal that included some interaction with the CEO and wanted to test his engagement, working style and how we would collaborate. It worked well in showing me was not a job to take.

I think there is a correlation between the number of “tests” applied to a candidate and how little the prospective company values/understands the role of CMO.

How much do you think "chemistry" is valued given marketing's role in also helping to shape culture and values for the brand/enterprise?

Back channel references and referrals are KEY to hiring for your team.

I think chemistry with the C-suite is also key to being able to build cross-stakeholder buy-in.

Fit with other execs on the team is KEY.?CFO, CEO, CPO…you have to be ONE team and know who plays what role in the company culture and with customers.

I was in a situation where there was a pretty toxic relationship between sales and marketing. Moving under the sales leader helped move past that and marketing moved out later on.

As the interviewee, I would ALWAYS create a marketing plan not for THEM but for ME. To gauge how they reacted to my ideas. So informative and I turned down several roles after this process.

I ask candidates to present something they’ve already worked on…this way, I’m not asking for work on MY company AND this way I get to see their breadth of knowledge and responsibility in their current position.

I think there is a ton of value for you as a candidate in doing a ‘homework assignment’. It helps you see how they respond to your ideas, how influenceable they are, what it would be like to work with them.

I just did this exercise and the team I presented to challenged a couple of my thoughts. I LOVED that they challenged me and how they did it.

By taking control of the assignment, you control the scope and guide it based on your expertise vs random assignments perhaps from someone/company that doesn’t have the understanding of the role, which could be a complete time suck.

I would say if you don't want to do the assignment, you are probably not all that excited about the role in the first place.

Presentations are great to drive conversations and discover what your potential peers will be like in working sessions.

Sometime the assignments are not well structured, which isn’t necessarily a red flag, but I think means they’re not sure what questions to ask and there’s a different conversation that needs to happen.

I ask to meet customers, too. Part of the reason I took my new role is that they were willing to connect me with both raving fans and detractors, on my request. No one has done that for me before.

Super important to talk to a board member and also customers.

+1 on the meeting customers, I reach out directly to customers rather than have them send intros.

Would never take a CMO role without meeting CFO, CRO and at least 2 board members.

Echo board and customers meetings, I also speak with a few Sales and Support team members.?Good pulse on what’s really happening, what customers are saying, etc.

I once got the advice that when selecting a new role you should put on an "investors" hat. What's all the due diligence you would do as an investor if you could? I found it clever.

Can be insightful to ask to talk with your predecessor too, when relevant.

You are buying as much as you are selling!?And I love the investor angle.?Would you be willing to put money into the company.?What’s the DD you need to do?

I think meeting with the CFO and gauging the finance team knowledge is super important and I always ask to meet with CFO if not part of the cycle.

I joined the company all hands retreat prior to joining which was invaluable for learning the culture, work style and expectations. I also created a rough budget and 30/60/90 day plan which let me really understand the CEO prior to starting.

Someone made a point earlier about chemistry? Huge. To try to understand their leadership style, values, and communication style too.

I think companies that say titles don’t matter are disingenuous.

If I don’t vibe with the company’s why, the work will be meaningless.

Hard to be the megaphone of a company if you’re not passionate or don’t think you can develop a professional passion for the industry.

You succeed when you are passionate.?And if you don’t love the space/industry, it will be hard to bring that passion every day.

My current company is VERY different than my former employers. But I chose this company because I was going way outside of my comfort zone and I knew I could add value using my current skills and I would be in a “safe” environment to develop those skills where I am less knowledgeable.

Try running an ICP (Ideal Company Profile) before starting your search.?What are the attributes of the companies you LOVE/LOVED working for and go and find more of them.?The ICP has to align with your value proposition.

I'd look at other factors rather than just the "CMO" title. Look at the company, culture, leadership team, market space (is it growing), product/market fit,?size and growth rate of market opportunity, are you passionate about what the company does, does it represent a good growth opportunity for you.

You need to be passionate about your abilities and what impact you can have on the company, first.?Although, my bellwether is “could I tell my mom about the company I work for and still feel good?”

I always look at people’s online profiles. I won’t nix them if there’s nothing great there, but I’m less inclined if I see nothing or see that they’re not contributing. I look for not just touting their own company’s stuff, but also just contributing to the community conversation, celebrating others’ achievements, etc.

“How important is your scope to the impact on the company” - love that!

Okay gotta jump to an interview with a CEO! Thanks for the great discussion.