🧪 What Marketing Leaders Actually Look For When Hiring

Hello hello 👋🏽,

Welcome to the 5th edition of the Marketers Help Marketers newsletter.

A huge, warm welcome to the 87 marketers who signed up last week!

It’s so, so so awesome to have you! 🤗🤗🤗

Getting into business, today’s edition -

consider this to be your insider guide to what hiring managers actually want.

I've been talking to marketing leaders about what they REALLY look for in candidates. 

They have been generous with their thoughts and advice.

So fair warning, this is a long read, but definitely worth your time.

Branca Ballot (Attio, prev. Glide, GoDaddy) had some tough love to share.

"I am yet to hear someone tell me they applied to a hundred jobs and got a great job at the end," she told me.

Her advice is simple - be strategic.

• Pick a few companies you are REALLY excited about

• Focus on certain roles or locations you truly want

• Make an extra effort to stand out for those specific opportunities

"Spray and pray" on a few positions if you must.

But be selective and intentional about roles you're truly keen on and pull out all stops for them.

Mohita Nagpal (Borneo, prev. Facets, Hiver) agrees:

"Be thoughtful and selective. Research roles thoroughly and clearly show how you'll add value."

She also shared some reality about today's market:

"The space is becoming difficult. We had those boom years of hiring in 2020-2021. Now people are not hiring as much. Companies are doing more with AI and freelancers while trying to keep costs low. “

This makes a targeted, thoughtful approach even more important.

This might seem obvious, but it's crucial to dig deeper here.

Mohita urged to be clear on your "why" behind your career decisions.

• Is it leadership experience?
  

• Working with smart people?
  

• A differentiated product?
  

Knowing your "why" helps you navigate the ups and downs of the job search, better.

Branca is VERY clear on this: your resume matters.

And it needs to be good. 

Her advice was crystal clear:

• Keep it to ONE page

• Focus on RESULTS.

  • Not just what you did but what impact you had. 

  • Quantify where possible. Revenue is great, but not everything needs to be tied directly to it.  

For example, if you're set on social media marketing, make that top line targeted to that specialty.

Make your LinkedIn profile accessible (ideally at the top of your resume) and ensure it matches your resume (bc, hiring managers definitely check).

You'd be surprised how basic some of these tips are and how many candidates are missing the mark here.

Getting noticed requires more than just clicking 'apply.'

Mohita shares a great example:

"I once received a job application on a postcard. Even though the candidate didn't have the required skills, their creativity made them unforgettable."

Basically, personalization matters.

"Craft a thoughtful introduction email. Show you've done your research on the company and role, clearly stating how you'd add value. This effort helps you stand out."

Branca seconds that:

"Send a concise, impactful note to the hiring manager or recruiter. Avoid long emails—be brief, engaging, and clear."

She brought up a great point here -

Branca stresses the importance of preparation and interest in the company and role.

She remembers candidates who admitted: "I have no idea what your company does, but I'm excited to work for you."

That doesn't cut it.

So, if you are interviewing for a role where you are incredibly interested in working with the manager (have heard great things about them, etc) don't forego your company research.

Understand what the company does and why that role and that company connects to you.

And when you are interviewing, share these with the hiring manager in addition to you being really keen on working with them.

That's how you'll make an impression.

Robbert van der Pluijm (Permutive, Biblio) suggested researching company values before interviewing.

Looking up these values on the company website or in team member articles gives you insight into what they really care about.

When you're in the interview, how are marketing leaders evaluating you?

For Branca, it's all about resilience.

She watches how candidates talk about their projects and accomplishments:

• Do they share with excitement?

• How do they describe overcoming problems?

• Do they learn from failures?

At Permutive, Robbert said they structure interview questions around company values.

"We're trying to figure out how you would solve problems," he explained. "There are multiple ways to solve a problem, but how would you solve it?"

Also, he advises: "If you say you have great organizational skills, have a couple of examples that you can pull out and talk about."

For Sanjeev NC (Stitchflow, Supermeme), adaptability to new tools, especially AI, is key.

"We wanted anyone joining the team to be comfortable using AI tools and open to the mindset that AI, especially in marketing, is going to be a tool which if you don't adopt, you're going to be left behind."

Assignments have received a lot of flak over the years because of how many companies misuse them.

At the same time, it's important to understand why companies are so keen on them.

Mohita sees them as critical for revealing three things:

• Ownership

• Curiosity

• Clear thinking process

Here are a couple more takes from other senior marketing leaders on why they use assignments as a part of the interview process.

Assignments also benefit you as a candidate.

Mohita once rejected a company after doing their assignment because she realized their goals didn't match market realities.

The process helped her avoid a poor fit.

Her advice: negotiate paid assignments with the company instead of declining to do assignments.

IMO, assignments are, unfortunately, an opportunity cost for interviewing, but as a candidate, you can try to de-risk by negotiating a paid assignment.

I hope these insights make your next job search a little easier!

I'd love to hear which piece of advice resonated most with you.

Here's to finding your dream marketing role! ✨

My next guest is an educator-turned-marketer who has been working in ad tech over the past decade.

I learned so much about ad tech marketing, their team structures, and some really interesting ideas, like walking the halls and pushing rocks up the hill, among other things, from him.

Really excited about diving into how marketing careers look like in ad tech next week on the pod and the newsletter.

As always, I'd love your thoughts on this edition.

This was the longest edition I have written since I started the newsletter 😅, so if you could reply back to me sharing what you thought about this or dm me on LinkedIn, I’d super appreciate it.

Have an amazing week ahead! ✨ 

Your marketer friend,

Mita