When recruiting senior marketing & BD professionals, overhaul these 3 recruiting practices

Recruiting practices should be evaluated at regular intervals. They should be relevant to the professional being interviewed and responsive to the market. 

Here are three recruiting practices that should be overhauled when recruiting senior marketing and BD professionals into your firms. “Senior” here means the marketing and BD professionals who spend the majority of their time on strategy and management, namely, Manager, Senior Manager, Director and CMO.

1. The “writing test”. This is typically a practice that has been in place for many years and no one has questioned why. I frequently hear the marketing and BD team leaders who are hiring say its “an HR requirement” without understanding why or questioning its relevance. In that case, below I offer some different ways to come at this. Keep in mind that testing a candidate on attention to detail and proof-reading (if indeed that’s the objective of this test) can be done in different ways, particularly at the senior levels. Most senior marketing and BD professionals - and rightly so in my view - will get offended when asked to sit a writing test. Juniors will anticipate this step. Seniors will not and will wonder why it's being asked of them.
2. The “middle man” test. Many firms put a non-marketing or BD professional, often a junior HR representative, in front of the marketing and BD professional as a first step. Again, at the junior levels, this can be a sensible step. But the more senior the role, the more the firm should adapt and equally offer up a senior marketing or BD professional at the first conversation.
3.  “Tell us a time when…” test. Aka the behavioral questions. The secret was out a long time ago; applicants can train for and anticipate these questions. This creates the problem of hiring a marketer or BD’er primarily because they are good at interviewing. It doesn’t automatically follow that they are also really good at their role. The other issue with these questions is that they typically start from a negative place and assume the worst: “…you’ve missed a deadline / had a conflict with a partner / received negative feedback?” What if the candidate hasn’t missed a deadline, how do they answer this? Is it establishing the right relationship by expecting an applicant to share their failings without any kind of rapport being established?

Consider these alternatives:
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• Instead of the writing test: Ask the candidate about a marketing or BD initiative where they have been the main instigator or driver. Get them talking about how the project came about, what they contributed and how they moved the needle on the firms’ marketing ROI. Once you understand this context, you will have a feel for what documentation may have supported this project. Ask if they would feel comfortable sharing that (it’s assumed these documents are kept confidential). Most written pieces are a collaborative effort and are done with the luxury of more than 45 minutes, which is the typical writing test length. Unless you’re hiring a PR, external relations or crisis communications professional, the timed writing test doesn’t provide the answers you’re looking for.
• Instead of the middle man: If you have 20 candidates to interview for a senior marketing or BD role and don’t have a spare 20 hours in your week, you will need assistance from your HR team. But, most hiring managers of senior marketing and BD roles are only interviewing a fraction of this number. So, it should be that person making that initial judgment and – wait for it – marketing and selling the role to the right candidates. Additionally, in recent years (and this is a trend that will continue), marketers at every level are astute and informed. They have just as many questions for you as are being asked of them. Whoever is at each interview phase should be equipped to answer those questions. I have worked with HR professionals who know the marketing and BD team intimately and offer great value and time-saving by being the initial face to the candidate. But, this is not typically the norm.
• Instead of the behavioral questions: Ask questions that matter and that reveal the information you need to know. If you ask a question about a time when they successfully avoided a partner conflict situation they will likely be able to share the "textbook" answer (regardless of their actual experience) for diffusing a conflictual situation. And keep in mind that it's more common than not for people to avoid conflict altogether. Instead, consider more meaningful interview questions. KHS People has developed literally dozens of questions geared to truly illuminate candidates’ skills and value. Three are shared below:

1. What two lessons would you share with your younger self to help you navigate working within a partnership structure in order to move the needle on BD?
2. What marketing and BD projects fall within your remit that you believe are not adding any ROI? What would you do instead?
3. What sort of management style works best for you to support your growth?

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Recruiting the senior marketing and BD professionals that are the right fit for both firm and individual is a challenge for any CMO or marketing team leader. Having the right process in place makes this much easier. It also makes you and your team and firm look qualified to be hiring the senior professional that you are.