Interview Guidance for Hiring Managers 1 of 14
Contents 3. Introduction 4. Interview Content 5. Interview Structure 6. Interview Evaluation and Candidate Selection 7. Interview Question Sheet Template 10. Interview Question Bank General Questions Culture Fit Questions PR Questions Sales Questions Digital Marketing Questions 2 of 14
Introduction Reuben Sinclair Ltd has introduced this interview technique with start-ups to global organisations for over ten years. Over the years we have implemented this recruitment strategy, it is by far the most effective for finding the best candidates who are the best for not only your business but also your culture. This document is a step by step guide to an interview technique that is proven to keep your hiring process consistent throughout the whole organisations and flexible enough for different role descriptions. 3 of 14
Interview Content We recommend selecting six different criterion that you are looking for when hiring a new team member. As a management team we recommend you agree on at least two of these criterion that candidates are judged on, these criteria should be in line with the company s values and appear in every interview the company completes. Below are some example criteria that we tend to hire individuals on: 1. Are they passionate? 2. Are they an analytical thinker? 3. Are they an exceptional communicator? 4. Are they a team player?* 5. Are they self motivated?* 6. Are they a strategic thinker? *Company-wide hiring criteria All of the interview questions that you select should be chosen so you are able to extract whether the person embodies the above criteria. For example, if you are looking for a strategic thinker you may choose more logic based questions e.g. how many cups of coffee are drunk in London everyday? Review our interview question bank on page X for inspiration. 4 of 14
Interview Structure To make sure the interview is well balanced with the correct mix of questions, we recommend that you are carve up your interview questions in the following way: 25% general interview questions 25% culture fit questions 50% industry relevant questions In regards to the length of the interview, for a first round we recommend up one hour initially as an absolute maximum. For the second round interview, we see the best retention rates when it is slightly longer, up to an hour and a half. Some of the clients we work with also like to mix in a team meet and greet in the second stage to assess whether the candidate would be a team fit. 5 of 14
Interview Evaluation and Candidate Selection As mentioned before all of the questions should be selected so that you are able to discover whether the person you are interviewing can give examples of the six criteria you are looking for. You should absolutely use some form of a scoring system to assess the candidates answers; because let s face it, bias does sometimes get the better of us maybe someone made you laugh a little more or maybe someone has the same interests as you it s no reason to employ them over someone who is more capable and a better fit to the role and company. The scoring system we use is there to help us score each person on the criteria we are looking for to enable us to fairly assess who our top runners are at the end of the interview process, eliminating any personal biases. This scoring system is also consistent across our business, so we know exactly where a candidate stands regardless of who has interviewed them. The scoring system works as below: -1 = the candidate does not display this criterion 0 = displays sufficient examples of the criterion 1 = displays over and beyond the criterion The examples section is useful for jotting down specific examples, after a long interview process you will struggle to remember for what reason you scored each person the grade that you did so it is important to fill out this section as a mental prompt. 6 of 14
Interview Sheet Candidate name: Position: Criteria one Examples Score -1= below average 0 = average 1 = above average -1 0 1 Total Criteria two -1 0 1 7 of 14
Criteria three -1 0 1 Criteria four -1 0 1 Criteria five -1 0 1 Criteria six -1 0 1 Notes 8 of 14
Optional questions Current salary and package: Desired salary and package: Location: 9 of 14
GENERAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Why should we hire you? How would you describe your learning style? What are some of the traits you look for in a leader? What has been your most significant achievement to date? What do you think your main challenges will be in this role? What can you do for us that someone else can t? What interested you about our company? What made you apply for this position? What s your favourite joke? Where do you see yourself in one, three and five years? Why are you looking to leave your current position? What part of your previous experience do you think translates to being successful here? How would you approach a superior with a suggestion, problem or criticism? What s your best dance move? How many flights fly out of the North Terminal at Heathrow every day? What was a typical day like at your past position? What do you hope to learn from this job? Explain a database in three sentences to your eight year old nephew? How would you describe leadership? What is your biggest weakness? How many cups of coffee are drunk in London every day? Can you give me three adjectives that best describe you as a person? Can you give me three adjectives that best describe you as an employee? Can you give me an example of a failure you had at work and what you learned from it? What is your biggest strength? What keeps you motivated? How does this job fit into your career plan? How do you react to instruction and criticism? Why did you leave your last job? Why are manhole covers round? 10 of 14
CULTURE FIT QUESTIONS How do you like to be managed? How would you describe the corporate culture of your past company? How do you define success? What types of managers do you learn best under? When was the last time in work that you were unable to do something alone? What s the greatest day of work you ve had in your career so far? If you knew your manager was 100% wrong how would you handle it? What core values should all great companies possess? How would you describe the people at your past company? Can you give me an example of a failure you had at work and what you learned from it? What makes a good team? What are the strengths that you bring with you to this organization? What personality traits do you clash with? Suppose you are asked to restore the confidence of senior leaders in your (or team s) ability, despite a recent failure. How would you go about that? What was your biggest failure and who was responsible for it? What do you consider to be the perfect work/life balance? Tell me about the very first thing you did that you ever got paid for Tell me the one thing that is most important to you in making your next career move. Is it money, recognition, stability, challenge, or environment? What does teamwork mean to you? How important is routine to you? Who inspires you and why? What can your hobbies and interests tell me about you that your CV can t? What are your three ideal job qualities? What have you done to contribute toward a teamwork environment? What kinds of situations do you find most stressful? How do you rely on others to make you better? Describe the work environment or culture in which you are most productive and happy. How well do you adapt to change? Have you ever dealt with company policy you weren t in agreement with? What are the characteristics exhibited by the best boss you have ever had, or wished that you have had? 11 of 14
PR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Entry Level/Assistant/Executive Level Questions Why do you want a career in PR? Can you tell me about a recent PR campaign that you thought worked well and why? Can you tell me about a recent PR campaign that you thought failed and why? What current news stories would you want to hijack for xxx client? What writing experience do you have in PR? Mid-level management What areas of PR or communications do you see growing / being important in the future? Can you tell me about your favourite campaign you worked on? How do you measure your personal and team ROI on campaigns? How much involvement do you have in new business? What is the value of the new business you have contributed to in the last 12 months Senior management/director Level Questions What media win are you most proud of? Tell me about a time when you had to overcome a challenge with an individual or group when developing and executing a PR campaign? What was the most difficult situation you have been in when responding to media and public enquiries. What made it difficult? How did you handle it? What are the advantages and disadvantages of appointing a PR consultancy? What would you consider to be your most creative or effective campaign? How would you prioritize and start your work day? How would you deal with a PR crisis? What would you do if a client or manager disagreed with your PR strategy? How would you go about finding relevant contacts and sources? Which PR firms do you admire and why? Which media outlets do you follow? How would you describe public relations to a five year old? How do you use social media to reach and impress traditional media? Can you give me 3-5 key publications and/or journalists that you would target for X client Describe a time you had to manage negative media attention. Describe a time your PR communications were misunderstood by your target audience. How did you handle it? Who are the current members of your team? What are their respective roles? What PR professionals do you admire and why? How is PR different from advertising? What s interesting about our current PR work? What would you improve? 12 of 14
SALES INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Entry Level/Assistant/Executive Level Questions Mid-level questions Senior management/director Level Questions What motivates you as a sales professional? What traits do you believe make up the most effective sales representatives? What is your typical average order value and what s the largest deal you ve secured to date? How comfortable are you with cold-calling? What sales quotas are you accustomed to? What percentage of leads did you convert into sales at your past job? How would you describe your ideal sales manager? How do you feel about meeting face to face with clients and giving presentations? What skills do you believe make for a great sales representative? Why did you choose sales as a profession? How would you describe the selling style of your former manager? Where would you like to see yourself improve in the area of sales? Can you give me an example of where you have had to demonstrate resilience How long was the average sales cycle at your previous jobs? How would you describe your sales technique? How much was an average sale at your previous position? Can you give me an example of a complex contract negotiation you ve completed and how you did it? What are some common hurdles you re facing right now as a sales representative in your current position? Give me an example of how you handled a difficult client in order to get the sale, and what did you learn from the experience? How would you describe your ideal sales position? How did your past company obtain its leads? How would you describe your ideal sales lead? Can you give me an example pitch of the product or service you were selling at your previous position? Who were your most profitable target markets at your previous jobs? Who would you say our largest competitors are and what are they doing well? How would you sell our brand in 30 seconds? What USP s do we have? Where do you rank in your sales team for revenue generated YTD? YOY targets for the last 3 years percentage of targets achieved. What sales personalities do you admire and why? How closely do you work with other divisions? What is your sales approach for a new prospect? 13 of 14
DIGITAL MARKETING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Entry Level/Assistant/Executive Level Questions What attracted you to the digital marketing industry? Have you looked at our company website, can you suggest how you would improve it? What experience do you have in the digital marketing field? How would you describe digital marketing to a five year old? What analytics tools have you used for tracking digital marketing? What would you contribute to a digital marketing team? What about digital marketing interests you most? If you had to choose one digital marketing niche and do it full time, what would it be? What company do you admire for their digital marketing and why? What digital marketing professional do you admire and why? Mid-level management What SEO improvements do you feel could be made to our site? How would you respond to a social media crisis? Tell me about your most successful marketing campaign? How do you foresee the future of online marketing? What website CMS platforms have you administered in the past? How do you measure ROI? Which social media brand strategy has inspired you lately? How do you assess engagement/the value of a visitor to the business? What is your policy on moderating comments on social media? What area of online marketing are you most effective at? Senior management/director Level Questions Can you talk to me about a content strategy that you have implemented? Talk about one of your most effective campaigns. What made them so effective? What does the conversion funnel look like at your company? How many people are in your current team? What are their roles? What is your experience with marketing automation? What is your approach to structuring a budget? Describe a time your team didn t agree with your direction. How did you handle it? What is your plan for growing our business using digital marketing? What do you see as your goals during first 6 months of working with our company? When was the last time you were in a crises? 14 of 14