You just opened your email and saw a message from the DREAM company you want. Congratulations! You have been invited to an interview. That’s exciting, but now what? Your excitement turns into fear because you don’t know how to impress your interviewers.
How to Make Your Resume Stand Out
Tips for Success During the Interview
Prepare for Possible Interview Questions
Don’t worry - we have a complete guide to conquer your next digital marketing interview.
Discover the techniques you need to conquer your digital marketing interview with knowledge and confidence in just 15 minutes.
How to Make Your Resume Stand Out
If you want a better chance of getting the job, you need to stand out from other applicants. Interviewers are looking for specific qualities when searching for a new digital marketer and they have to sift through hundreds of resumes and look out for any obvious gems.
Certificates will definitely help you stand out from other applicants. Interviewers will see that you are interested in a career in digital marketing and committed to learning basic digital marketing tools. Google Analytics and Adwords are free certifications, so there is no reason to not get them. These certifications will also look good on any digital marketing resume. Bonus points if you achieve other certifications such as Facebook Blueprint, Hubspot, etc.
Technical skills are also key aspects that interviewers look at - they want to see if you are proficient at Excel, R, Python or data modeling tools. Knowing simple formulas and making graphs may have cut it in college, but it won’t cut it in the workforce.
It’s expected that you know keyboard shortcuts to speed up your execution and to correctly utilize advanced functions like VLOOKUP to answer data-driven questions. It is even better if you have experience with marketing platforms and vendors like Google Analytics, Adwords, and Facebook Ads. Any experience with design such as Photoshop and copywriting would be a bonus. There are tons of online resources that teach you how to be proficient in these tools. We recommend opening up your own ad accounts and practicing as nothing can replace real-world practice. Level up your digital marketing skills and check out this additional guide to learn how to write killer Google Adwords ads.
If you have a blog or a website, show it off! It will definitely force the interviewer to take a second look at your application. This will show your interviewers that you have the passion and a foundation for digital marketing. Make sure to highlight specific results as simply executing campaigns doesn’t demonstrate if you are performance driven or not.
Tips for Success during the Interview
Practice, practice, practice! Practicing will help you be more comfortable and confident for your interview. Lucky for you, this is a perfect study guide to help you practice.
You need to do some research before the interview. Look up the company and interviewer if possible. LinkedIn is a great research tool for this purpose. You might find useful information on both the interviewer and the company.
Social and communication skills are important for digital marketers. The interviewer needs to know that you can communicate with fellow employees to succeed in the position. Especially at marketing agencies, you might be placed in a situation where you have to talk to clients. Public speaking is a muscle, so exercise it by going to networking events or other group events and practice introducing yourself until that muscle is strong.
Get specific with details and figures from your previous experience. Use numbers to describe your prior job successes. Concrete details are better for the interviewers to see your results compared to your abstract accomplishments. Between “I helped generate $1,000 in revenue within a 3 month period” and “I helped the company earn money while I was there,” it’s easy to tell that the which answer is better (the former, in case you were wondering).
Understand the position you applied for. You probably applied to multiple jobs, so make sure you are thinking about the right job for the right company. Employers don’t want to hire someone who is blindly carpet bombing Indeed.com with their resume. You also need to know what you will be doing and the skills you need to be successful.
Know every inch of your resume. The interviewer will most likely ask you questions about your resume. Most importantly, don’t lie about your credentials. Interviewers can tell if things don’t add up. It is not worth hurting your reputation.
Prepare for Possible Interview Questions
Now let’s get into the actual interview. You came here to learn how to crush your next digital marketing interview. We provided you a list of possible digital marketing interview questions. Take some time and learn how to answer these commonly asked questions.
Behavioral Questions:
Interviewers ask personality questions to gauge if your personality matches the company. This is also an opportunity to show off who you are and see if you’re a good fit for the team.
It is important to understand your strengths and weaknesses to answer these questions. Take your time to develop your elevator pitch. This should include a brief introduction and what makes you special. Keep it short and around 30 seconds long.
Here are some examples of personality questions and why they would ask.
Tell me about yourself. This is an opportunity for you to open up and demonstrate your elevator pitch. The interviewer wants to get to know specifics about you so they can know you a bit better.
What is one accomplishment you are proudest of? Interviewers are looking for a significant achievement and how you accomplished it, ideally via drive, grit, and self-learning.
What is one of your hobbies? Interviewers are looking for progression/development in something that’s not forced (like school or work).
What is your 5-year goal and how do you plan to achieve it? Interviewers are looking for some concrete thoughts about the future, as well as evidence that you actively thought and researched about next steps.
What would your previous boss say about you? Interviewers are looking for a positive past relationship and experience w/ your prior company, or at least an honest, self-aware assessment.
Digital Marketing Related Questions:
Companies want to see if you have any prior knowledge of digital marketing and if you tried learning digital marketing on your own. Try to practice by answering these questions.
Why digital marketing?
What is your experience with digital marketing?
What are your relevant skills for this position?
How does your academic experience prepare you for this position?
Company Related Questions:
These types of questions will allow the interviewers to see if you have taken the time to research the company before the interview and have a real interest in the company.
Why do you want to join our company?
What do you know about this company?
Describe your ideal work environment.
Your Questions:
At the end of the interview, you will be given a chance to ask the interviewer questions. Take this chance to learn more about the company and the position. It also lets the interviewers know that you were engaged in the conversation and show genuine interest. Here are some example questions to ask your interviewer.
How have you grown personally through your experience with this company?
What does a typical day look like?
Why did you come to this company?
What is your favorite part about working here?
How can I grow here?
Remember not to limit yourself to these questions. Be creative because this is your time to interview your interviewer.
Post Interview Procedures
Finally, the questioning portion is over. It’s time to ask for the interviewer’s contact information or business card. This is important because you can contact them to follow up with the interview and hiring process.
Don’t forget to send a follow-up or a thank you email to your interviewer. Most applicants are too lazy to do this extra step and they will be less likely to get the job. Thank you emails aren’t difficult to write and you will stand out from other applicants.
Here are 3 essential things to include.
- Show appreciation of the interviewer’s time.
- Mention something specific in the interview, so they know you didn’t copy and paste this email.
- Express interest in the position and your excitement to learn more.
You can find a thank you email template anywhere, but remember to customize yours.
Now that you are finally done, sit back and take a deep breath. Even though your goal is to land your dream job, every interview will make you more comfortable with talking about yourself and sharing your experience.
Which of these tips do you think is the most interesting? Let me know.
