Marketing Interview Questions & Answers

This part invoked a 30-minutes phone interview in which I was asked several questions. I can not recall all of the questions, but here is an excerpt of them:

1) Explain why I am interested in their company and why I applied for the specific role.

2) Explain how I would deal with change at work

3) What are my weaknesses and how do I overcome them

4) How do their values reflect into my personal life?

Tell us about a time in which you had to deal with a difficult person and how did you approach that situation.

Make sure to be genuine. Don’t try to be someone who you think they might want to have. Also know their values very well. It’s important that you can reflect on them. It’s a family business don’t forget that.

The assessment center was structured as follows:

1) Meet an greet
All applicants and the whole team met each other. We had to introduce ourselves and find something that makes us special. Some information of the company followed.

2) 30-min Interview
Individual interview with 2 people (1 marketing, 1 sales)

3) 30-min Presentation
We had to prepare a self-reflecting SWOT analysis in advance. This was presented in front of two people from the team (1 marketing, 1 sales)

4) Questions
In this part we had time to ask questions to two members of the team

5) Lunch brake

6) 1hr 30-min Group excercise
We had 1hr and 25-min to prepare a presentation as a team and then 5-minutes presentation in front of the team (5 people)

7) 40min Group exercise
Card game as a team

8) Feedback and FQA

Overall the assessment was from 10:00-17:00 and throughout the exercises we were being assessed

The Interview consisted of a 2 - on - 1 sort of competency-based interview as well as a group assessment and concluding with some case study tasks which then led to individual presentations to be delivered to a group of assessors. It was highly challenging and pressurising, but is a good experience to really increase your level of confidence and business presentation skills.

What are your weaknesses? And what are you doing to combat that?

Be yourself, be humble and be passionate about the field in which you are applying for. Be ready and hungry and find a company that fits with your personality and culture fit. It becomes more of a relationship than a job

The assessment centre was fun but challenging. The Interview consisted of a 2 - on - 1 sort of competency-based interview as well as a group assessment and concluding with some case study tasks which then led to individual presentations to be delivered to a group of assessors. It was highly challenging and pressurising, but is a good experience to really increase your level of confidence and business presentation skills.

I first had to complete a proofreading and editing test which consisted of editing a news article of 400 words. You also had to re-write headlines and sub headings. After this, I had a face to face interview with two managers that I would be working closely with. We first talked through my CV and my experience up until now and then talked about how the skills I had acquired would help me with this job role. They then went on to ask me some competency based questions such as, " Can you give us a time when you had to deal with a difficult colleague." The overall interview lasted one hour.

"If you had longer to work on the test, would you have done anything differently?"

Come prepared with examples as they really back up your answers! It also encourages a conversation with your interviewers. It is also a warm and friendly firm, so go in with a smile and you'll fit in fine!

I had to do a proofreading and editing exercise before the initial interview. You has 30 mins to edit, re-write and proofread a 400 word article.

The interview was held at their offices in London. I was asked basic questions about my past experience and motivation for working at the company.
Before the interview I was asked to prepare for a role-play scenario where I would have to use my sales skills to sell a gym membership to a member of the public. The end goal was to get the customer to sign up for a free day pass and promote the longer membership. The role-play lasted for 5-10 minutes.
I was then asked some competency questions and about my availability. The interview lasted 1 hour in total.

How do you like to be managed within the work place?

Make sure you show your enthusiasm during the interview, you will be the face of the company so it is important that you show an interest in what the company does and how their business operates. The team are really nice and chatty so just show that you are really interested in the roll.

No assessment centre

The interview was competency based, with a member of NIBE present as well as an assessment centre specialist. The interview consisted of 4 main sections, each with different skills and sub questions. Question were based around leadership, marketing experience, audience targeting, confidence and initiative.

Describe a time when you have been innovative?

Describe a time when you targeted a specific audience? How did you do this and why?

The best practical advice for the assessment centre is to be yourself, stay calm and listen to what’s being asked of you. To add to this, push yourself to the best of your ability rather than comparing yourself to other candidates.

The day started off with a brief introduction to NIBE as a company. This then led on to a group discussion which lasted about 45 minutes. After this the individual interview were conducted; lasting about an hour. Finally, an hour preparation time was given to make notes for an individual presentation. The presentation lasted 10 minutes, with time for questions at the end.

I received the request for my initial interview through my recruiters Pattersons (Abingdon). I attended the first interview which was conducted by two of the company's managers. The two ladies kindly welcomed me to sit down in an office away from the chaos of the sales room.
They began by asking me about the stage I was at at the the moment and they both had a copy of my CV in front of them. I explained I had finished university the week before and that this was my first interview. They were both very friendly and carried on asking about my work and how I felt it would help me in the role I had applied for.
I was asked how I deal with stress and how I go about prioritising tasks. I had brought examples of my work and was able to use an ipad to take them through the responsive designs of my websites. This first interview took a more conversational format rather than a quick fire question and answer session. I came away feeling calm and confident.

I was asked back for a second interview two weeks later to meet the head of marketing and to be shown the computers and the software they used. My meeting with the head of marketing was more intense, he was interested in the details of my past projects and I found myself explaining pieces of work that I had assumed he wouldn't want to know about. Although assertive he was also friendly and engaging. He asked about what I did in my free time and he then happily related to my hobbies and we were able to chat about badminton and the tennis. By the end it didn't feel as though I was in an interview at all.

In my second interview the head of marketing asked "Are you happy with dealing with both the creative side and the data management side?" I answered with "yes" but there was a silence in which I felt like they wanted me to expand on my answer. So I explained that I would appreciate the variety and would enjoy handling the data first hand, that it would make me feel like I was having an influence on the scope of the company.

Have examples of your work ready for instant viewing. Look them in the eye and talk about how you will/can help the company grow. Look enthusiastic about your surroundings. Remember that they're trying to impress you as well as the other way round.

The main task of the two interviews was the presenting of examples of my work. Before I arrived I had prepared several pieces on my Ipad to show them as I had been asked.

20-30 candidates for a range of internships, were brought in for 1.5 days of assessment and group exercises with a recruitment agency (The Spring Project), mostly to do with personal development. At the end of the last day we prepared presentation in a group and presented in front of the other candidates and a panel of line managers. I was not awarded an internship at the end of this process, however I was contacted by the recruitment company and asked to do a phone interview for a different internship within the company. I interviewed with the line manager and was offered the job that afternoon.

We were asked to rate our suitability to the positions compared to other candidates.

Be yourself and be honest about your abilities. They didn't want people who knew everything, rather they wanted people who showed that they were willing to listen and learn. I would also say don't be too disappointed if you don't get offered an internship during this process, as it is very competitive, and if you may a good impression they may contact you again for a slightly different role.

We were asked to prepare group presentations very quickly (less than 15mins) a number of times, about different subjects (Such as what makes a good intern). We also had to prepare a longer presentation about a specific attribute (My group was given Responsibility).

I had a Skype interview with an employee who had worked in the same position I was applying for. Most of the interview was spent on explaining what the position would entail, what sort of experience I'd had with these aspects (e.g. Sales and Finance)and what my hopes were of the job. He asked me about my experience and interests, and what type of career path I envisioned for myself, and how this position would contribute to that. He was very well prepared, very clear with his information, and very friendly with his questions.

The most difficult question for me was what I imagined the Sales aspect of the job would entail. He admitted that the job opening wasn't very specific about the tasks you would be taking on, but I hadn't had any relevant experience in Sales, and had difficulty imagining how I'd tackle that part of the job.

Seeing as the actual job opening doesn't give too much information, I'd spent some time researching the company as well as looking at other job openings with a similar job title so see what tasks you'd be expected to take on. I personally didn't feel the job was for me after the interview, because I didn't expect how big a part Sales and Finance would be of the job, but I was grateful the interview did give me a clear picture of the job. I'd say to make a list of exactly what you want from a job, where you see this job taking you in terms of your ideal career, and what tasks you wouldn't see yourself doing. A list of strengths and weaknesses is also essential.

So far I've only had a Skype interview as I live abroad for the moment.

Uploaded my cv and application. After few days, I got the invitation to the test. After 2 days, I got the email told me that I failed the test. I still have absolutely no idea why I failed. The test includes almost 60 questions in a hour. Except technical jobs, other job applicants all got the same test.

A drawer has 10 red socks, 10 black socks. In dark, how many socks A should get out the drawer to make sure A will get the right pair of socks?

I don't actually have any practical advice since the questions in the test are quite tricky. some of them includes math calculation(but you can't use calculator) and some logic questions, like the socks one(the right answer is 3).

Quite empty and quiet but big company

My initial video interview was recorded by myself to random questions accumulated by the computer. there was not a graduate recruitment team on the other side of the camera, rather they reviewed the video interview after it was submitted. The video interview lasted around 20 minutes and asked about previous work experience and your suitable to their competency skills as outlined on the job specification.

After this, I was invited to an assessment centre to complete various tasks. The day was 5 hours long and consisted of individual interviews, group work, presentation and a buddy system. This appeared to be the overall format for all the graduate assessment days Morrisons ran. On the day we had to perform a task to choose between two new products to be implemented, deciding which one to run with based on budget, profit, losses and Morrisons ethics and values. This was presented to the graduate recruitment team through a Pechi Kuca format of PowerPoint. where slides last for 20 seconds and then switch, this although sounded easy was probably the most challenging part of the day.

In addition, the individual face to face interview asked about previous work experience and degree qualifications in relation to key competencies such as teamwork, communication skills, ethical practice, literacy and numeracy, marketing and events experience. This was followed by questions which referred to different scenarios you may be in as an employer and how you would go about challenging these, Overall the interview was fairly relaxed in its format.

One question was to test how well you met the criteria of marketing and Morrisons and stated describe yourself in 10 nouns.

You must be confident, professional and meet there ethos. Do alto of research about the company before you go because this is one of the main standards they mark you against. Also be very confident in using complicated language and presentation. You need to act professional like you would in a meeting with seniors. Furthermore, always use he star technique of situation, task, action and result to show your competency to their chosen interview skills. This really helps you structure you answers and allows the interviewer to easily mark you against their criteria. The easier you make it for them the more likely they are to like you and most of all understand what you could bring to the company. Furthermore, body language in communication style is important. Make sure you dress smart for the interview, blazer and pencil skirt or a suit for boys. Smile, be confident but not too relaxed. This is something I got marked down for and I know others on the day would have been too. It is really important to stay professional throughout the whole interview process and day. In doing so you will be able to give off a good impression. Although, I wouldn't go overboard as the graduate recruitment team would probably see this as false impressions and behaviour, just act very outgoing, confident and interested in Morrisons.

As described above: We were split into four groups of three where we worked for most of the day planning our presentation on the subject of which product to introduce into Morrisons stores.