When you’ve interviewed a marketing job candidate, what should your write-up look like?

CAN HE DO THE JOB?

Definitely yes. Sam is a consummate marketing professional and well suited for the VP Marketing role.

WILL HE DO THE JOB?

Yes. He displayed a strong work ethic throughout the interview, showing credible examples of how he made a strong positive difference in his previous roles.

Sam exhibits a good balance between creative and numbers. He talks fluently about marketing and sales automation, and is very comfortable in the world of digital.

WILL HE FIT IN?

Yes. While serious about his work, Sam displays a casual sense of humor and some personal humility. He understands how to work effectively with both creatives and sales people.

Sam also has a keen sense of what is important to our CEO and CFO. He knows and applies the metrics important to them.

SAM’s STRENGTHS

Sam is a true marketing director. He gave good answers to every question asked during the interview. This is a short list of his strengths:

He truly understands the linkages between corporate vision, strategy, marketing and execution.
He knows the process for creating a sound strategy and enjoys it.
He understands competitive dynamics well, including pricing.
He knows the value of marketing due diligence, how to produce it and how to use it.
He understands branding very well.
He can create and run a marketing organization. He knows the controls and how to put them into place and use them.
He is an avid user and advocate of digital marketing including social media. He gave an excellent example of a campaign he created based only on the company president’s vision. The campaign was successful, and he was able to talk fluently about what made it successful and how the results were measured.
He has made significant contributions to outstanding sales growth and can talk fluently about them.
Sam is well experienced with SaaS marketing, which is an advantage when understanding and talking with large industry partners.
He understands sales and marketing automation well.
He has good international experience.
He understands the power of public relations for a company like ours and can manage outside providers. He talks enthusiastically about the power of PR and said he has friends at software industry media companies.
He presents as an excellent ‘people person’. He is empathic, well organized and process oriented. He was delightful to talk with.
He demonstrated excellent initiative in the interview.

Concerns:

At the start of the interview Sam had a tendency to over answer questions and ramble on. However, he responded well to my guidance and was giving shorter, better answers before too long.
Sam has been 18 months with his current employer, which is a bit short. However his concerns about the company’s funding are well-founded and understandable.