Interview Questions

Peter posted a great comment a couple posts back. He asks “how to kill in an interview” and posted a short list of questions he had so far:
  • What's the creative dept like, working with partners or mix and match?
  • How often do you do new business pitches/what accounts do you go for?
  • Where do you see this agency in 5-10 years?
  • What's it like working here? (best asked to juniors)
  • What's the best and worst work that's come out of here in the last year?
I think all of these are great questions. I might add these:
  • What will your expectations of me be?
  • Specifically, what will you expect to have seen from me within the first six months?
  • What are the biggest challenges the agency faces right now? What are you doing about them.
All these questions are good to ask. But questions alone aren’t going to help you in an interview. That’s all personality. You’re either going to fit or you’re not.

When Mark Figliulo hired me, he admitted I might be the last nice person he’d hire. He’d already hired too many nice people, and thought it might be good for the agency if he hired a jerk. I don’t think he ever did, but it was probably in the back of his mind every time someone came in. Maybe he just never met the right jerk.

Point is, don’t fake yourself. Don’t be who you’re not. Don’t try to be bubbly Mr. Personality if you’d really rather be listening to darkcore techno and brooding in your office. Maybe brooding fits the agency.