Marketing Interview Questions & Answers

I was immediately attracted to this role as it combined two areas I want to get into, events and marketing. I initially found the advert on reed.com, but since becoming suspicious, have found it on several websites, advertised as various things, such as Events and Sales Assistant. The salary offered varies on different job sites, from weekly earnings, OTE to £18,000 - £22,000. Please beware as all is not as it seems at CM3.....

I applied at the weekend and heard back on the Monday. I was invited in for an "interview" which actually turned out to be a 10/15 minute chat, of which cost me £5.80 in car parking! I was told they were "interviewing" 25 people that day for the position/s. That must be why they felt the need to email me about an hour before to casually check if I was still going, as the manager apparently has a very hectic schedule!

I then got phoned the same day about an hour later to say I'd been successful and they wanted me to work an event asap (unpaid) called an "observation day". All you are told is to show up at 8.30 with a notepad and pen and the day will end with a questionnaire at 4.30.

I was seduced by the "management scheme" of which they are "fast tracking" suitable candidates to complete within 6 - 9 months and the prospect of the company conquering America. I thought this was a fantastic opportunity, but did suspect it seemed too good to be true. I was right. They say they believe in direct marketing and all this means in simple terms is door to door and face to face sales. Not marketing (in my opinion, maybe I'm old fashioned)?!

On the day, you will be expected to pay to park (if you drive), pay for your own transport to event "sites" (bus/tram/train stops, shops, streets, doors) anywhere, where they describe as having "people"! It doesn't take a 'young entrepreneur' to work out there's foot fall at these places - but he should secure in his knowledge that these people are busy and do not want to be badgered on their day to day lives.

???With unemployment at an all time high for 16-24 years olds, I believe in challenging the stereotypical 9-5 in order to offer people the same opportunity I was given??? -Chris Mikkides (CM3, 2014).

The opportunity he must have been given then is false promises, ridiculously long hours and commission based pay. I'm relived I delved a bit deeper in to this "company" before I signed on the dotted line and I hope other people's cynical sides also prompt them to do the same!

"There's 24 other candidates out there, why should I pick you?" Textbook.

When they email you an hour before to confirm you are actually attending, (pretending you've not found this unfortunate review online) write back saying you are attending and then don't... see if you even get an email asking you why you didn't go. I'd be amazed if they even acknowledge your absence. Spend time applying for legitimate, reputable event and marketing companies.

Offices at Citibase Manchester - only saw the waiting room, playing very questionable music videos and surrounded by other "hopefuls" and the managers office. Very rushed, one in one out, obviously done intentionally to make it feel competitive (probably given same time slots). Plus points: The offices are right next to a Chinese, could become costly though! The chairs were comfy. They provide a clipboard and pen to complete your questionnaire upon arrival.

My telephone interview with Appetito was very relaxed which helped me feel comfortable. I was asked questions about my previous work experience, which allowed me to add more detail and divulge into my main responsibilities and what it had taught me. I was also asked a lot about the company including the history, current issues they are facing, location of each headquarters etc which I found challenging even though I had done extensive research beforehand.

I was asked: 'What de-motivates you?' - this definietly caught me off guard as did the question, 'What's your biggest mistake?'. I have undertaken numerous interviews for my placement year and a small number of graduate telephone interviews and have never been asked these two questions before so to think quickly on my feet.

My telephone interview lasted for a good 45-50 minutes so make sure you prepare answers based on your work experience as they follow your answers with further questions.
Also, I was asked a lot about the company - some of which I didn't know even though I had spent time preparing. Don't just use their website, try to delve deeper into the company by looking at the news and current issues they are facing in their environment.

I have only undertaken the telephone interview, numerical and verbal reasoning testing and further application questionning about my personality.

I was invited via email to attend a 1st interview after applying for the position through the company website (Over the moon!). I arrived half an hour early due to train times but was grateful for this time as it allowed me to collect my thoughts, take in the surroundings, the atmosphere and gave me an insight into the mundane activities at the headquarters (Pretty nosy but useful when deciding if this is a place you'd like to work). The Recruitment Adviser who had emailed me the invitation came to collect me and escorted me to an interview room where he and two senior members of the marketing team sat across a table ready to interview me. A little daunting- but that's the way it is I'm afraid!

They gave me the opportunity to briefly introduce myself, my employment history and why I was interested in this role. This was the easiest part as I was pretty sure of the answers! (I had to use all my efforts to keep them concise as rambling is a weakness of mine). They then went on to competency questions- these were more tricky but nothing I hadn't seen on practice questions online and examples were required for every one pretty much.

Luckily the atmosphere was relaxed and they were a very friendly panel.

The 2nd interview was a more in-depth repeat of the first interview and involved a task which I needed to prepare beforehand. They asked me to discuss my thought process when carrying out the task and asked a few questions. They were happy with the result and 3 days later I was offered the job! (I had to do a silent dance outside my office so as not to give anything away)

Why did you apply for this particular department as opposed to our other departments because it seems you have skills and experience more suited to some of the others? This question took me by surprise because, if I'm completely honest, I didn't really mind which department I worked for as they were all of interest to me!

I answered that I had used my skills in previous jobs and was keen to explore new and different areas, it seemed to go down well- lots of nodding.

-Arrive earlier than early (20-30 mins) to take in the working environment. This allows you to consider whether this it's a place you'd be happy to work. (It's not just about what they want but it's about what you want for your professional career!)

-When preparing answers to questions, always think of examples. Saying you are good at something is not good enough for them, you need to prove that you are

-Exaggerating the truth when it comes to experiences is okay but lying about skills is not. If you got the job on these grounds prepare to panic when they expect you to do things you've never done before!

-Lastly, try and find common ground with the interviewers, laugh at their jokes and always show a keen interest in what they're saying

I did not attend an assessment centre.

The initial interview for the role was held at their office with the Head of Analysis and lasted much longer than any other interviews I had - about 90 minutes. I saw this position advertised on graduate-jobs.com and applied with my CV and cover letter.

Because the job position was maths based and a graduate role, the interview geared towards my mathematics degree and which modules I did - especially statistics ones. I thought it was quite casual so wasn't a typical style interview as the interview was mostly interested about what I had on my CV and getting more detail about the topics I covered to get an idea of where I was at. I really enjoyed this interview because it didn't feel like I was being tested to a standard, but more like what I'd already learnt and what level of training I would need on the job. The interviewer also went into a lot of detail about the job position itself and what the company actually did and how my degree is related to this field. As a keen problem solver, I really enjoyed on the spot questions like "how many airplanes are in the air right now" as it's all about how one would go about approaching the problem, rather than just getting the right answer. It was also quite insightful to compare our methods - we found one was qualitative and one quantitative!

The most difficult question ironically seemed the most simple. I was asked to describe the term "variance" to someone without a mathematical background. Fellow mathematics graduates may understand why this task wasn't as straight forward as it sounds. While studying for our degree we are so used to listening to lecturers teaching us, being asked questions but also asking each other for help using the mathematical language we've been using since A Level. There hasn't ever been a time where we would explain mathematical terms to someone without the background. Although a bit taken aback by this request, with some probing and the help of a pen and paper I was eventually able to give a correct explanation of the term.

As a tip, I wouldn't recommend mathematicians to start practising explanations for every maths term we've learnt after GCSE. I find that explaining terms work best when knowledge is raw and not rehearsed. It's not a test, so questions aren't looking at if you know what it is, but how you can explain in different ways to others. I would definitely use this tip to describe my entire interview; it was a conversation and therefore not rehearsed. There were no competency based questions but based on my cv, my skills, my answers and my questions. Interviews should be unique to the interviewee so the main feeling you should have when leaving should be weather or not you enjoyed the conversation.

After the initial interview, I was invited back, along with 3 other candidates for the final stage interview with the Founder and Operations director. After passing the round to ensure I was capable of doing the actual job, this was supposedly how I would fit in the company as a whole and if I could cope with everyday things like presentations or meeting clients.

One of the questions I was asked was if I feel I was more outgoing or - the opposite. As an Analyst, there's a lot of data and independent thinking with deep concentration. However it was important that the company employed an analyst who was also comfortable with presenting their ideas and findings to their team or to clients. This second interview was more about the "soft" skills and personality traits shows a candidate can fit into their culture and working environments. Another interesting question was like "do you consider yourself to be unique?". These interviews are definitely much harder than initial technical interviews as it takes candidates out of their comfort zones. Being a company, a new graduate employee would be given significant exposure to the entire business so I understood how important it was for them to select an all rounded candidate.

Attracted to the job's immediate start and opportunity for career development, I applied for the job of marketing events assistant. I heard back that day, and was asked to go to their office the next day for an interview that was supposed to last 20-30 minutes and give me more detail about what the job (or the 'programme' as they refer to it) actually entailed.

I was disappointed to only have a 10 minute interview, where I wasn't really told an awful lot more than what you can get on the website or the job advert. I asked what the difference was between marketing events assistant and sale assistant (two different roles they are currently advertising) and found out that actually they were the same job advertised with different titles- everyone starts in sales and works their way up management. I was told that more detail would be given the next day, when I was to return for an intensive day shadowing a manager and completing several tasks throughout the day.

So the next day I turned up at 8.45am as requested, and ended up waiting in reception with several others for 45 minutes with no clue what was going on. No one came out to tell us how long we'd be waiting, or what was happening, which I thought was rather unprofessional.

Eventually we were taken into an office in pairs, where we were introduced to a manager who we would be shadowing all day. This manager turns out to also be training someone who was on their first day, and I was told that his attention and priority was with him- not with me. I was told not to ask questions until later on in the day, when there would be a question time. I thought it was strange to be training a person on their very first day and assessing a potential employee, but I went along with it.

Turns out we were actually travelling outside of Manchester- to Stoke on Trent, which I felt they should have let me know the previous day as I was expected to pay the fares myself.

The so-called intensive shadowing day was the most boring experience ever. From 9.30 until I left at 4pm I was given 4 fairly easy tasks to do (see question section). I did not shadow at all- in fact i was told to go away for 1 1/2 - 2 hours to complete 1 task at a time, and had to keep a distance from where they were selling when I came back. I tried to come back earlier than asked when I'd completed the tasks, but told to go away as he had nothing for me to do.

The answers to these tasks were to be written down on my notepad, which the manager quickly glanced at before sending me off with another task to do. I experienced more of the interior of the nearby McDonalds than of the job- especially as I finished these tasks in 10-20 minutes.

After completing the 4th task, I was told I'd made it to the final 6, and 5 minutes of the manager's time to tell me more about the programme, but first I was to have 30 minutes 'break'. So off I had to go again with nothing to do.

When I came back, the programme was again gone through too quickly and very briefly. I was then told for the first time that they expect employees to be at the office at the latest 7.45am and leave at the earliest 7.30pm- that's working about 12 hours 6 days a week. I was hesistant to commit to this, and at this point the manager turned nasty and plain rude. I said I would have to think about it since its a lot of hours, and he sarcastically replied he couldn't very well tell his manager that I was 'thinking about it'.

I tried to ask questions about the programme to see if it would be worth working them hours for it, and he had no interest in answering them. In fact, he had got up and was trying to walk away from me. I said to him that since I had an 1 hour commute to Manchester it was a lot of hours and I didn't think I could handle it. So I apologised and said I would have to turn it down. He snapped back at me 'This isn't a job offer' rather than just accepting my decision, so I explained that what I meant was that I was not going to carry on with the rest of the progress.

I was then told that he had to get back to the new employee- as he was his priority- and I was to find my own way back to Manchester (a good taxi journey to the train station and then half an hour train journey away from Manchester which again I had to pay for).
I tried to shake his hand and end on polite terms, but he wasn't having it.

All in all, the interview was a waste of my time and money. The company obviously has no care for the welfare of their employees, and the work doesn't seem hard. Just long boring hours selling and giving out flyers in shopping centres for a few months and then after that, training new people on how to do the same thing. The whole interview process was unprofessional, and they obviously had no care as to whether potential employees actually knew what they were getting into. The manager's rudeness and nastiness made me more than happy to turn down the job opportunity.

1. Think up of 3 different products (can be fictional, but must be physical i.e. no phone apps or games) that are for the mass market and up to £50.Think of how to market one of these products
2. Write down 10 weaknesses and 10 strengths
3. Think of as many different specific ways a product can be marketed/advertised (e.g. not just tv, instead more specifically 30 second tv ads)
4. imagine you run a marketing and sales company. write a) how you would make profit and how you would pay your employees, b) write 10 ways of how to motivate employees day-to-day, c) write 10 ways of what makes a good manager

then there was the usual 'why should we pick you?' 'what are your interests?' 'What do you want to do in 5 years time?' 'What is your main strength?'

Only apply for this role if you're prepared to work very long hours for not great money to get to a good role in marketing quickly and you're interested in doing sales.

Show that you are a people-person and that you've got a good work ethic.

Make sure you know a little about marketing- but the stuff they asked me to do was basic common sense

No assessment centre, just cover letter and CV application via email, followed by a 10 minute interview at their office and then a day 'shadowing' a manager.

After online tests the initial interview was a 30 minute recorded video interview which was conducted one way. There were 10 questions and each question shown on screen we would have 1 minute to think about the answer and it would start recording for 2/3 minutes. After it stopped it would go straight to the next one until all 3 questions were answered.
I passed the interview and was then invited to the assessment centre at their head office.

The interview was competency based so most questions were expected. However some questions which I hadn't prepared for were ones like "Describe some TK Maxx stores you visited and tell us how they differed from each other". Because it was a merchandising and buying graduate scheme the question didn't come out of the blue but before the interview, we were advised to visit a store. Luckily I visited the store in Central London but had also previously visited one at The Bullring in Birmingham so was able to describe how a South East and Midlands store differed in their stock.

If you are applying for a Buying and Merchandising role, always think what the implications are. For TK Maxx, it's important that they buy for local customers. This means it's useful to have an idea from the consumers point of view why store are different in the stock sell, depending on location. That's why it's a good idea to visit stores in different locations before an interview.

There were about 6 candidates, group interview style and activities were based choosing items to stock in the TK Maxx stores. The first one was selling a product, we chose a product from the table and had to rate the product on whether it would be suitable to sell in store. We presented to the rest of our team and a panel of 4 interviewers and discussed among ourselves if we agreed with each others ratings.

However, what made the exercises difficult was that we were assessed as a group and how we interacted with each other, as opposed to our own isolated performances. Each of us had the chance to present our own opinions and reasoning behind our decisions but the interviews were always asking each of us if we agreed with what our team mates were saying. This makes it a bit harder than an individual interviewer because candidates need to feel and speak with confidence because they can be influenced by what other candidates are saying.

Without a doubt one of the hardest interviews I've had.

Aside from your usual competency questions, this interview was held by two senior employees and they grilled you on todays current events and economic climate. This was then followed by asking you to detail different methods of advertising and what you think is most suitable.
Finally they pressed you on salary and expected you to very much lower your expectations.

It was a tough interview.

Without using any social media or internet methods, how would you plan media coverage for a client?

Do plenty of research on current events before hand.

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Describe a time where you worked with someone difficult and how you overcame it.

Make sure you voice your opinion in the group task, don't be quiet!

Only two rounds, first stage application form second stage assessment centre.

The centre was held at their Wimbledon head office and started with a brief introduction to the group and the 9 members of senior management who were assessing us.

We then had a 40 minute verbal reasoning test.

Next was a group task where we were divided into buyers and sellers and had to negotiate a deal across the board room.

Lunch was an opportunity to question those who are currently on the grad scheme.

We then had a numerical reasoning test and 1 to 1 competency interview with a series of about 8 questions lasting 40 minutes.

The last task was a presentation to the group where you were given a topic and 1 minute to prepare and 2 minutes to present.

Overall it was a great and very friendly experience.

After emailing my CV and a covering letter explaining why I would be suitable for the Marketing and Sales Assistant role, I was invited by the company's Finance manager to attend an interview the following week. Upon arriving at the company HQ, I was greeted by one of my interviewers and invited into one of the conference rooms. After a brief and friendly chat about the weather and how my journey to the office was the second member of the interview team arrived, the company CEO. Initially I was given a brief about the company, how successful they have been, what areas of business they work in, and all of the general information about the firm. After this, numerous questions were raised by my two interviewers asking me to describe myself, why I want to work for the company, and what my career aspirations are. The interview was conducted in a friendly manner which helped to lower my nerves and improve my confidence and lasted around 30 minutes in total. After the questioning it was illustrated that the business would contact me again within 4 days as to whether I progressed to the final stage of the interview process, a verbal presentation in front of the CEO, Personnel manager, and Managing Director.

The most difficult question I had to answer was based on my knowledge and expertise on the company's competitors. This was tough to answer because the business has a lot of competition and I had only researched one of the main competitors. I was able to give a detailed answer on one company, however when asked if I knew of any other competition I had to admit I did not. However my interviewers did not seem too off putt by this answer as they realise that this was an interview for their company, and not their competitors.

Be confident! Employers are not looking to employ timid, shy or nervous individuals. Also, have an interest in the area of business the company works in. It is much more interesting and appealing talking about an area of business that you personally enjoy.

The business does not operate using assessment centres when looking to recruit employees. I feel that this is a clever and appropriate decision as my opinion on assessment centres is that they do not accurately measure individuals' abilities, they merely measure who can shout the loudest. The face-to-face interview style that the company uses is much more effective at finding out how competent an individual is, as the organisation can spend 30 minutes asking detailed questions and receiving feedback from the employee. This is just not possible in an assessment centre where there are 15 people attempting to get their voice heard over everyone else.

After emailing the co-owner of Heald Ltd with my CV and Cover Letter I got a swift reply telling me that I'd been accepted to progress forward to the interview stage. A time and date was agreed upon that was mutually beneficial. Upon arriving at the destination, I was greeted by a secretary who granted me a seat and glass of water and told me my interviewer would be with me shortly. 5 minutes later I was invited into the interview room and met the co-owner of the business. We discussed at length Heald Ltd, the role I would play in the company, and what skills I would bring to the business. I was asked in a friendly manner any suggested changes I would personally make to the company leaflet and any marketing tips I had for the company. Finally I was asked if I had any questions about Heald Ltd, the Marketing position, or just general questions about the daily activities of the role. This made the interview friendly and relaxed. Once the interview was finished the co-owner explained that I would receive an email in a couple of days as to whether I had been successful or not. This was excellent as it is sometimes the case that if unsuccessful you do not receive a notification from the company which can leave you feeling in suspense for along period of time.

"What criticisms do you have of the current company brochure?"

Be confident, calm, relaxed and friendly. The organiser makes the interview process relaxed and fun with a light-hearted nature. Know the facts about the business and have ideas of where you could improve elements of their marketing.

No assessment centre. Which is useful because the days can often become a "who can shout the loudest" competition.