Successful hiring in today's white-hot market: CMOs share what's working

Today's white-hot hiring market. No faster way to get a B2B chief marketing officer to start sweating than to ask how their aggressive hiring goals are going in today's ultra-competitive conditions.

Last Friday's CMO Coffee Talk featured a wide-ranging discussion about how marketing leaders are finding, vetting and hiring the best marketing talent out there. We discussed scorecards, interview best practices, warning signs to watch for and much more.

Chat highlights from both sessions are below. If you are a B2B CMO or head of marketing and want to join this community of your peers, let me know.

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One of my favorite hiring resources: https://www.manager-tools.com/products/effective-hiring-manager-book

Hiring is the #1 priority.?Everyone on the team must embrace this.

I think the scorecard is key to get internal alignment on what you are hiring for. I think of this like building an ICP - who is in, who is out, are we all on the same page, do we have clarity - etc..

Just had to stop and restart a Product Marketing hire due to wildly different understandings of the same JD that everyone signed off on.

I heard an economist recently talk on the demographic drought and how companies will have to rethink their hiring strategies in the coming years because the talent shortage is not going away. https://www.economicmodeling.com/2021/05/04/demographic-drought/

Has anyone “skipped steps” to expedite the experience from the candidate’s perspective in this crazy market? I am a big believer in a very rigorous hiring process but that’s getting harder to pull off

Re: skipping steps - need to understand your process, my preference would be to free up employees calendars to make the loop go faster

Pretty much every other meeting I have can be moved or cancelled to accommodate a candidate interview.

I record first interviews so that other interviewers watch and not have to ask the same questions - they can be more efficient in their questioning and get to a decision faster.

I’m a fractional CMO for a company that has automated the candidate scorecard process and offers “assignments” during the profile building process. It is an AI powered service that compares candidates to your ideal candidate and supports DEI.

I co-wrote this guide to hiring marketers a few years ago: https://www.impactplus.com/marketing-interview-questions It includes stuff on behavioral interviewing, sample interview questions, a situational activity, and a template for an interview scorecard that you can download. Might be helpful for anyone looking for examples.

I say “recruiting is #1 priority, do nothing else until your roles are filled”

Resumes are a great work sample for marketers - if you can’t create a good resume for yourself, how can you be a good marketer?

One draw back to LinkedIn is sometimes accomplishments can’t be shared because of company confidentiality.

Our Director of Brand carves off 20% of her time for Employer Brand

I think CMO’s should create a role on their team for an Employer Brand Strategist who takes on the CHRO and her/his dept as a FT internal client.

https://www.demandrevenue.com/the-top-five-ways-to-enhance-cmo-chro-alignment/

I had a really interesting conversation with a CMO yesterday about the difference between hiring experts vs. hiring athletes.?Athletes are the ones who don't have your industry background, but are smart, have diverse backgrounds, and can adapt and drive results, maybe in new ways.

I keep wondering if there is an ABM analogue here — targeted advertising to prospective employees. Even if you’re not working the specific role at that time.

It’s not all about salary. You have to think about the whole benefit package and career path. Candidates want to know there is growth opportunity.

People also have lots of baggage from other roles - to the ‘its not about the salary’ point. Understanding what they liked and didn’t like in previous roles is important.

I think it just goes back to my b-school negotiations class - its not about splitting the pie, its about making it bigger.?Get creative... What are ALL the things your candidates value??Maybe they want to do a cross country trip and want a sabbatical in 2 years, or maybe there is an issue for balance or whatnot.?Its about really getting to know your candidates and finding what will delight them, just like we do with our best customers.

Also re: “not about salary” — I’m especially keen on culture… is the CEO a huge jerk? I’m not living through that again — ever. People want to work where they’re treated with respect, make a difference, etc.

I have officially decided I am too old to deal with toxic people on a daily basis.

Life is short, work with people you enjoy. Full stop.

Agree with the culture comment, but hard to really evaluate the culture unless you know someone who is willing to tell you the truth.

We compete with other companies for talent and win out on comp because of our value proposition - culture, growth, impact.

One way to dig into this: “How does the exec team get along?” “Would you consider leadership to be ego-focused or client-focused/employee-focused/collaborative?”

I always give really nice holiday gifts to the recruiters!

Daily stand ups with the recruiter can be helpful to keep intensity on your search.

I advise my teams to go out to LinkedIn and talk to 3-5 people BEFORE opening up the role.?(Plus they are filling their own funnel!)

Always be in market - it’s how I know what I want/need on my teams…you also get some best practices that you can deploy if you aren’t.

We have started sharing attributes that we look for in people in the JD in addition to the job responsibilities and what they will be measured on (attributes: Curious, Brave, Collaborative, Takes Initiative & Adaptable)

I always build a list of 10-15 profiles to give the recruiter so they really understand my ideal profile - it only takes 20 min or so to do but really helps point the person sourcing or sorting resumes.

I give my recruiters example of LinkedIn profiles of people that are good for the role...even if I know those people aren't in market.

Tip: have your recruiter send you profiles too so you can see how good they are at picking profiles.

It is often hard for my managers to carve out the time to recruit - and it makes them suffer as they have to continue to do the work versus think about strategy.?I constantly have to nudge them to recruit.

Back channel references are key.

I like to dig into a real story about how they got something done, with challenges - if they can’t tell a project story from their past, something’s not right.

Socratic behavioral questions, find out what they really know and what they really have done.

Single best question in all references: Front- or back-channel: “Would you put this person in the top decile/quartile/etc. of people in similar roles?”

I give scenarios based on real situations we’re facing so we can see / hear how they think and approach situations.

Cultural fit is extremely important - we let go a few folks who had the right skills, but did not fit in.?

I do an assignment for every role now. Back to the “scorecard” we then have them present to the team they will be working with and we’re all looking at the same criteria on if they can not only do the job but are a good culture fit.

I don’t want to script the interview, but I give each interview team member one unique thing to really focus on and help them craft the question to get what we need. Not every interviewer knows how to do this.

In the interview process look for passing the blame or negativity usually means they have a personality issue.

Self awareness is something I try to understand about each candidate as well so that I can see where they need coaching.

Anyone do the airport test? Would I hate being stuck in an airport with you or have a good time through conversation, etc.

I often ask them to share an example where they failed.?If they throw blame and don't take responsibility, it's usually an asshole indicator.

Kevan Lee has a great list of interview questions here - https://www.kevanlee.com/articles/27-go-to-interview-questions

I am usually the last interview for junior positions and I usually ask the recruiter and hiring manager if I am Buying or Selling.?Steers the conversation really quickly.

For my back channel I say — I’ve already decided to hire this person — so help me be the best manager for them over the long run — where will they need the most help? And then I decide whether to hire.

I start all interviews with a simple questions -?just tell me about yourself - and if they talk only about work vs personal life, or who they are personally it tells a lot to me about them. That helps me with culture fit.

We have a culture interview that is done by 2 people who are culture interviewers … not on the team that are hiring into.

Thank you notes are great...as long as they are personalized and mention something meaningful from our discussion... Perfunctory is a fail.

Different POV on thank you notes: https://www.askamanager.org/2019/04/rejecting-anyone-who-doesnt-send-a-thank-you-note-is-terrible-hiring.html

Are they coachable is a key thing to uncover!

Is there going to be a period down the line where the market self-corrects on salaries and a bunch of people go up on the chopping block because they came in at such high salaries?

Career growth is one of the most important things that Millennial candidates care about. Being at the ceiling is constricting for them.