Sample Interview Questions:

Building a strong marketing team isn’t easy. There are tons of companies competing for top talent,
and it’s tough to find (and retain) the best fits for your organization. Those kinds of stakes are not
a joke. From recruiting to interviewing to onboarding, getting the right people onto the right spots
in your marketing department is a long process.

A key part of sorting out marketing candidates starts with asking the right interview questions. In
this sample you’ll find questions firms often ask to interviewees across all different types of roles,
to help you figure out what makes you tick and determine whether they’re right for your career.

Sample General Marketing Interview Questions:

The following questions typically apply to most marketing roles.

Tell me how you got started in your career.
What makes you passionate about this work?
How has your skillset grown over time?
Are there skills you’d like the opportunity to develop in the future?
How did you learn about this open position?
What can you tell me about our company?
Why are you leaving your current position?
What do you consider to be your core strengths?
What motivates you to succeed?
What publications and blogs do you read?
What was the last book you read?
Who's your favorite marketer and why?
In your own words, what's the goal of marketing?
What's the definition of [department name like "demand generation"]?
If we asked you to improve [INSERT METRIC] by [INSERT PERCENTAGE] by [INSERT
DATE], what strategies and tactics would you use to achieve that goal?

Sample Team Management Related Questions:

Have you managed staff before, and if so, for how long?
How many people reported to you?
Describe your leadership style.
Tell us about a time you helped a struggling employee succeed.
What is the first thing you’d do if hired for this position?
Tell us about a time where you were responsible for setting strategic vision and overseeing a
team to execute it. What were the results?
When faced with reasonable pushback from team members, how do you respond?
Describe a time where you were faced with a conflict in regards to decision-making, and helped
lead the charge toward a positive outcome.
How do you convince other executives about the value of marketing?
When marketing campaigns or projects fail, how do you respond?
Which metrics do you consider most important for gauging success?
Which marketing software platforms do you have first-hand experience with?
Are you comfortable using large amounts of data to guide decision-making?
Which channels would you say this organization should focus on? Are there any we are not using
but should, or those we are using but shouldn’t, in your opinion?
Are you familiar with our industry?
Who would you guess are our biggest competitors, and what might you do to help differentiate
us in the marketplace?
Describe a time where you had to oversee a major project from start to finish, and the results it
produced.
Tell about the most successful campaign or project you ever worked on.
Have you ever taken a risk on a new tactic or idea? If so, can you tell us about a time when a risk
paid off?
Which software platforms do you prefer, and why?
Do you know about Facebook at Work?
Have you used Telegram?

Sample Marketing Intern Interview Questions:

What interests you in a marketing career?

Have you worked in an office before?
Do you have experience working with [INSERT SOFTWARE]?
Is there anything in particular about our company or industry that interested you?
Have you had previous internships or relevant work and volunteer experience?
How has your college coursework prepared you to succeed in this role?
What would you most like to learn about marketing in your time with us?
Tell us about something you achieved in school that you’re proud of.
Ultimately, what type of position would you like to secure in the industry?
What do you hope to get out of an internship with us?

Sample Marketing Entry Level Job Questions:

Tell us about your university and internship experiences.

Which skills do you have that would best fit this position?
Are there any areas where you feel you could improve?
Where would you like to see your career in three years?
Describe a time where you made a mistake, and how you handled it.
What do you feel separates you from other recent graduates?
Can you tell us about a volunteer experience you enjoyed?
How would you define the goal of marketing?
What attracted you to this job specifically?
Tell me about your best friend.
Sample Product Marketing Interview Questions:

Product marketers need strong copywriting skills, but they also need to understand product
development cycles and how to introduce new products and features to the public. For this type
of role, consider all the copywriting questions above, along with the following:

How familiar are you with our product?

How would you market an existing feature of our product?
How would you position [INSERT PRODUCT] to a Millennial audience? How would you
market that same product to a Baby Boomer audience?
If presented with a new product or feature to market, where would you start your research?
Are you comfortable interviewing experts to learn about subjects you need to write about?

Sample PR Interview Questions:

While a lot of marketing roles appeal to introverts, PR pros often need to be opposite. That’s not
to say introverts can’t excel here, but people who are attracted to public relations typically have
more outgoing and extroverted personalities:

What attracts you to PR specifically?

How comfortable are you talking to new people?
Do you have experience working with the media?
How would you pitch [INSERT PRODUCT] to a journalist at [INSERT NEWS OUTLET]?
Which news sources, blogs, and media outlets do you follow in our niche?
Are you able to stay calm under pressure?
Tell us about a time where you had to de-escalate the conversation during a crisis.
How much experience do you have planning PR strategies?
What are your thoughts on using content marketing and social media for PR?
What do you feel is the true purpose and value of PR?

Sample Social Media Marketing Interview Questions:

Marketing on social media means more than slapping creative captions on goofy GIFs. Narrow
down candidates who actually know how to do marketing on social (rather than just know a lot
about social media) with this list of inquiries:
Do you have a strong grasp on basic marketing principles?
How would you rate your creative writing skills?
Which social media channels do you have the most expertise with?
Do you have experience with audience research?
Which social media content types do you have experience creating?
Have you ever been tasked with running a social media campaign, from ideation to execution to
measurement? And if so, what were the results?
Do you have previous experience managing online communities?
Have you reviewed our business’s social media presence? If so, are there any specific things
you’d recommend changing?
Tell us about a time you were confronted with a social media crisis, and how you handled it.
Which metrics do you consider most important for measuring social media success?
Which blogs and news sources do you read to stay on top of social media trends and changes?
How familiar are you with running contests on Facebook without running afoul of that
platform’s guidelines?
Do you have experience blending organic and paid social strategies?
Which social media platforms are your favorite for personal use?
What’s your opinion on using social media for customer service?
Are you familiar with Facebook’s guidelines on promotional posts?
Which social media marketing and management tools have you used in the past, and which have
been your favorites?
What are your favorite brands on social media and what, in particular, do you think they do well?
In your own opinion, what can social media do to impact business outcomes that other channels
and tactics can’t deliver as well?
Do you have experience managing a social media calendar?

--- Best of Luck ---