Hiring the right candidate for a marketing position is never an easy task. With the abundance of unoriginal resumes flooding your inbox, it’s hard to know who is the best fit for the role. And when it comes to hiring a content marketing professional, the situation becomes even trickier. After all, you want to ensure that the candidate you’re hiring is not only creative and talented, but also familiar with your industry and your brand’s values.
Traditional interview strategies and their limitations
The traditional interview process often involves bombarding candidates with generic questions such as “What are your strengths?” or “What are your weaknesses?” However, these questions can only reveal so much. Most candidates tend to prepare with pre-formed answers, and it is hard to judge their fit with your company culture and brand personality.
The Benefits of Turning the Interview into a Storytelling Exercise
One solution to make the interview more engaging and revealing is to turn it into a storytelling exercise. By doing so, you create an environment that is more relaxed, allowing the candidate to express themselves and show their true personality. As a bonus, by asking the right prompts, you can learn more about how the candidate handles different situations, which is essential for a content marketer who will produce engaging and relatable content for your brand.
Storytelling is a way to distinguish one candidate from another
Storytelling exercises can help differentiate between candidates easily. By asking similar questions to every candidate, it allows for a more equitable process. By paying attention to the responses, you can see who is a better fit for the role. You can also assess the candidate’s ability to think creatively, how they construct their stories, and whether their stories promote your brand’s values.
The power of storytelling to engage and be remembered
People remember stories; they don’t remember statistics or facts. And that’s why using storytelling tactics is so powerful in an interview. By encouraging candidates to tell a story or relate an experience, you’ll create a more lasting impression than you would by simply asking them to list their skills and accomplishments.
Using storytelling prompts to elicit concrete responses
When conducting a storytelling interview, the key is to ask open-ended questions that encourage the candidate to share a story. For instance, you can ask them to tell you about a time when they experienced a challenge with a brand’s messaging, or when they had to change tactics when a campaign failed. As the candidate goes from the beginning to the middle to the end of their story, you can discover how they viewed their growth, changing responsibilities, and any other takeaways from the job experience. The prompt can elicit a more concrete response because they will talk about a recent experience.
Using storytelling prompts to evaluate a candidate’s ability to handle negative situations
One of the best things about conducting storytelling interviews is the wider spectrum it provides for assessing a candidate’s aptitude to handle negative situations. By asking questions that relate to challenges, roadblocks, and failures, you not only learn about their skills and qualifications but also how they handle pressure and difficulties.
Using storytelling prompts to assess cultural fit
Another benefit of using storytelling prompts in an interview is that they provide better insight into how well the candidate might fit into your company’s culture. By asking questions about situations that align with your brand’s core values, you can ensure that your candidate has the same work ethic, point of view, and cultural values.
Active listening is a key component of storytelling interviews
Of course, to get the most out of a storytelling interview, the interviewer must be an active listener. Listening attentively to the candidate’s story will allow you to focus on the details that matter, and you can ask follow-up questions that demonstrate your interest in their experiences. By actively listening, you’ll gain a better understanding of the candidate and their fit for your brand.
The benefits of identifying candidates who can tell compelling stories with a clear business purpose in mind
Finally, one of the best outcomes of conducting a storytelling interview is identifying those rare candidates who can tell compelling stories while keeping their business objectives in mind. These candidates are few and far between but are invaluable to any content marketing team. They bring both creativity and strategy to the table, providing a unique perspective to the campaign approach.
In today’s competitive job market, the hiring process becomes paramount to not only fill a vacancy but also to find the right person for the position. By incorporating storytelling into your interview process, you can glean more information about the candidate that can help you make a better hiring decision. By asking specific questions and listening intently, you can find the candidate who is not only qualified, but also fits your company’s culture and values. With a little practice and preparation, storytelling during interviews can make finding the right candidate for your content marketing position a much more enjoyable and informative experience.
