Hiring someone for a marketing role is a big step for any small to medium sized company.

Having a need for a marketing team signals that a company has reached a certain milestone to justify hiring a full-time professional to help grow the business.

That being said, when your Marketing department is made up of only a few individuals, hiring the wrong people can be detrimental to the success of your organization.

So how do you know if your new hire can help your company get measurable results, more qualified leads, more customers, and increase your revenue?



Follow these 4 helpful tips to help narrow your search and find the ideal marketing professional:

1) Get clear on the job and the expectations

Before starting the search, it’s important to invest the time and truly define what it is that you need. To get started, ask yourself “What would a typical day/week look like for this person. Then dive deeper into the following 3 sections:

• How will you determine Success?
  What are the KPIs? What do they need to achieve in the first quarter? What do they need to achieve in the first year?
• What are the required technical skills?
  For example, if you are on an InBound marketing strategy, will they need to know how to utilize HubSpot or other similar systems. Will they need to create content or is that outsourced? Will they need have the ability to set-up Personas, etc.
• What are the required soft skills?
  Technical skills can always be learned  … Soft skills, not so much.
  The soft skills is where many hiring managers struggle. An easy way to get started is to review the company values and also ask yourself “who has been successful in our company in a similar role and what traits helped them succeed”.

2) Market the Marketing position: Expand your net

Sure, referrals and word of mouth can result in some good hires. But have you really expanded your net and reached your target audience? Have you looked at passive candidates?

Partnering with the right recruitment firm can give you a good insight on what talent is out there.

(See article on  how to avoid being ripped off by employment agencies)

3) Strategically plan your interview questions and process

• Determine the stakeholders
  The best way to determine who to involve in the interview process is to determine who this position does the most collaboration with (i.e. who’s buy-in do you need) and who has the most immediate gain/loss for making sure you hire the right person.
• What are the steps and their sequence?
  Do they make sense or are you doing it because you’ve always done it this way?
• Prepare your interview questions based on the step above
  When asking these questions, make sure you stay consistent in every interview and you dig deep on the individual’s contribution/accomplishment.
  Often in Marketing roles, things are done as a team … you will want to hone in on what the person you are interviewing was responsible for, and how successful they were (Do they know their KPIs? Did they overcome challenges?)
• Ask yourself, does this person’s career trajectory make sense?
  Does your position fit in with that trajectory? Why would they take and stay in this role?... Don’t over-analyze the “Stay” part of the last question.
  It’s often better to have a great person for 2 years, than to have a mediocre person for 5.
  
  

4) Check references thoroughly

Interviews and assessments will tell you what the person Can do … The references will tell you what the person Will do.

Best references are recent Managers and Supervisors … Try to avoid personal or colleague references … It’s safe to assume that their friends like them, you need to hear what their Managers say about them.

Having the right Marketing team in place is one of the key competitive advantages for most companies. And as such, the demand for identifying and securing competent professionals in this ever-evolving sector is fierce.

If you are a hiring manager committed to finding the right marketing professional for your team, the TPD team is always delighted to help.

Interested in gaining other valuable insights about the interview process? Check out one of our free resources below!