If you’re one of the five-hundred thousand companies hiring digital marketing analysts right now and your budget is less than $100k in salary. You will be scraping the bottom of the barrel for talent. Periodt.
They’re expensive and I get it. An old colleague used to say “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” So if you can’t raise your budget and you just need that one damn eye, let me give you 4 critical interview questions to help weed through data puppets and find that worthwhile candidate.
As a Director of Analytics, I’ve made good and bad hires in my career and have been kicked in the ass by quick decisions. The most valuable lesson I’ve learned is not to hire for a skill set. The temptation to do this is great, especially if you’re in an agency environment where you need that person for some billable project right away.
But be WARNED, a person with technical skills in GA or Adobe, does not an analyst make. Looking only for this skill is playing a dangerous game with the resources around her. A person who does not have an entrepreneurial spirit, a tenacity for problem solving, critical thinking and great communication skills will COST YOU MORE TIME by sucking up other resources to help them get there.
Here are my top 4 interview questions to uncover soft skills REQUIRED to be a successful analyst:
1. TELL ME ABOUT A TIME WHEN YOU FOUND A MISTAKE IN YOUR WORK AND HAD TO CORRECT WITH A TEAM.
None of us are perfect. Data models are never right the first time. The answer to this interview question will tell you 3 things:
- This person’s ability to accept accountability.
- Her ability to be transparent. This helps build relationship trust.
- Her comfort level with themselves and their human-ness.
2. TELL ME ABOUT A TIME WHEN YOU ANTICIPATED A POTENTIAL PROBLEM/OPPORTUNITY THAT WAS SIGNIFICANT TO YOUR ORGANIZATION AND DESIGNED PREVENTATIVE/OPTIMIZATION MEASURES.
How did you identify it? What was the potential impact? Who did you communicate to? What was the outcome?
This question series helps reveal a person’s initiative and vision. The last thing you need in an analyst role is an order-taker; answering every ad hoc question your heart desires. Well, maybe that is what you want, but that’s not where you’ll get value. Someone who understands the broad business implications of any analytics research is the one who’s going to get you the best actionable insights and drive the business forward.
3. TELL ME ABOUT A TIME IN WHICH YOU HAD TO USE YOUR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION AND/OR PRESENTATION SKILLS IN ORDER TO “SELL” AN IMPORTANT POINT ACROSS.
This reveals her ability to communicate. Analytics is 50% math, 50% communication. If a person cannot express their ideas in written or presentation format, it doesn’t matter if she can do the math. There are tons of data storytelling workshops out there because explainability matters. Asking these questions and hearing their answer will tell you if this candidate will require training or is already on point.
4. TELL ME ABOUT A TIME WHEN YOU INDEPENDENTLY FOUND THE BEST WAY TO FINISH A TASK THAT WASN’T VERY CLEAR.
Questions from marketers can be as clear as, “I want to find the attributes of our most valuable customers” or as vague as “Why doesn’t this landing page work?”. In either scenario, there are many ways to skin a cat. This answer to this question reveals tolerance for ambiguity and the ability to work independently. A good analyst will be able to create their own methodical approach. A bad analyst will come up empty handed. Independent problem-solving is what brings value to the team.
It’s much better for your business to anticipate the need for an analyst early, hire for these soft skills, then send them to training on any tools they’ll need to be successful. It may seem like a long process, but it’s way shorter that hiring technical skills and training on the soft ones.
