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4 Interviewing Tips for Landing Top Talent: Show Notes & Transcript

Post | Mar 07, 2023

Welcome back to Marketing Smarts! From brand-building and marketing veterans Anne Candido and April Martini (that’s us) comes a podcast committed to cutting through all the confusing marketing BS so you can actually understand how to take action and change your business today. We deep-dive into topics most would gloss-over, infusing real-world examples from our combined 35+ years of corporate and agency experience. We tell it how it is so whether you are just starting out or have been in business awhile, you have the Marketing Smarts to immediately impact your business.

In this episode, we’re talking interviewing tips for landing top talent. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and your other favorite podcast spots – follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re exercising your Marketing Smarts!

  • Episode Summary & Player
  • Show Notes
  • Marketing Smarts Summary
  • Transcript

Marketing Smarts: 4 Interviewing Tips for Landing Top Talent

The interview process has become more and more important in recent years. You need to interview effectively so you can land top talent and pass on the wrong fits. Land top talent by asking them to give their elevator pitch, giving them an assignment in real time, having them meet with multiple people, and forcing them to ask questions. We’ve interviewed hundreds of candidates over the years, and we’re pumped to share our perspective. This episode covers everything from elevator pitches to asking questions. Here’s a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:

  • How do you interview and land top talent?
  • Why should you ask candidates to give you their elevator pitch?
  • How do you create a compelling elevator pitch?
  • Why should you give candidates an assignment in real time?
  • What were the best Super Bowl ads?
  • How many people should candidates interview with?
  • Why should you force them to ask questions?
  • What is Move Your Hyde Power Yoga doing so well?

And as always, if you need help in building your Marketing Smarts, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at: ForthRight-People.com.

Check out the episode, show notes, and transcript below:

Show Notes

What is Marketing Smarts?

From brand-building and marketing veterans Anne Candido and April Martini comes a podcast committed to cutting through all the confusing marketing BS so you can actually understand how to take action and change your business today. They deep-dive into topics most would gloss-over, infusing real-world examples from their combined 35+ years of corporate and agency experience. They tell it how it is so whether you are just starting out or have been in business awhile, you have the Marketing Smarts to immediately impact your business.

How do I exercise my Marketing Smarts?

Thanks for listening to Marketing Smarts. Get in touch here to become a savvier marketer. 

Transcript

Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.

Anne Candido 0:02
This is Marketing Smarts – a podcast committed to helping you become a savvier marketing leader, no matter your level. In each episode, we will dive into a relevant topic or challenge that marketing leaders are currently facing. We will also give you practical tools and applications that will help you put what you learn into practice today. And if you missed anything, don’t worry, we put worksheets on our website that summarize the key points. Now, let’s get to it!

April Martini 0:29
Welcome to Marketing Smarts. I am Anne Candido and I am April Martini. And today we’re going to chat about all things interviewing so that you can head into interviews with the utmost confidence that you will land top talent, and also forego those wrong fits.

Anne Candido 0:44
This is something actually we get asked about quite frequently just in general. But as we’ve talked on the show before, most recently, with the current trend in the employee landscape, everything from the shortage of quality workers to the great recession to quiet quitting, all of these trends and topics put this at the forefront of people’s minds more than ever, and honestly put a ton of pressure on the interview process. And having interviewed literally hundreds of candidates over the years between the two of us, we’re going to give you our insider perspective of how we screened and what we were looking for in order to really secure that top talent. But also, we’re going to give you guys who are top talent seeking out these companies some insights about what they’re going to look for as well so that you can plan appropriately. Yep, exactly.

April Martini 1:32
And with that, we will get into four interviewing tips for landing top talent. Number one, ask them to give you their elevator pitch. And if you listen to us, you should be no stranger to the fact that we talk about elevator pitches, frequently we have a whole episode committed to how to craft one. So if you don’t know what an elevator pitch is, first of all, you should if you’re a fan of the show, or if you don’t know how to craft one, please go back and check out that episode. It is a really strong one, we’ve gotten lots of positive feedback on that. But when it comes to interviews, many of us have started off interviews with a prompt have something like tell me a little bit about yourself, or give me the run through of your resume. Or I’ll let you just introduce yourself, this is actually different because in that case, it’s up to the candidate. And typically they will default to running you through their resume with commentary about where they’ve been or what they’ve done. And it often becomes kind of a history of me and my employment with some highlights along the way if they did a good job or you know, some nuggets of metrics, that they’re smarter on why they’re a good fit for the role. But asking for their elevator pitch, is asking them to tell you why them really specifically, it’s the opportunity for them to make the compelling case for why you should hire them. What do they do differently from other candidates? What will they bring to the role, which shows that they have done their homework. And really, if we’re digging down deep, it gives a chance for you to assess things that are really those more aptitude type things or experience type things that people curate and cultivate over time. And there are things that can be more valuable than I can do, quote unquote, skill, or I have this training or those types of things. And those questions you can be asking and assessing art, can they tell a story, which for any job, you have to be able to tell a story? You know, we’re all salespeople to some degree in our roles, it’s hugely important. How articulate are they? Are they able to speak in a way that is something you’re okay, listening to all the way to something that makes sense and is compelling? And you want to hear more from them? Can they think on their feet? An elevator pitch is probably like the 301 level of interviewing. It’s not something like I said before that people are used to hearing or doing so can they rise to the occasion and have that ready to go? Are they engaging overall, which I mentioned with the articulate point? Do you want to spend more time with them? And then are they a good cultural fit? Because the way that they speak and present themselves and present who they are to you is that opportunity for you to check the box yes or no on whether they fit in company culture, which is another thing that we’ve talked about as hugely important. So I’ll stop talking now. And I’ll hand it over to Anne. But just you know that elevator pitch is one of those ways you can really quickly assess if they’re going to fit.

Anne Candido 4:23
Yeah, and if you’re looking to interview here in the near future, the elevator pitch is a really good way of conceptualizing virtually every one of your responses, it helps you to make sure that your response your responses are short, concise, impactful compelling, because the interviewer is going to be looking for all those things April mentioned, and how you communicate is going to be a core piece of how they’re going to evaluate you and how they’re going to feel about how you’re going to assimilate into their culture and whether or not you’ll be able to progress work whether or not you can be able to engage with others. Whether or not you’re going to be able to actually be able to represent your point of view or the point of view of the business. So that is very, very important. And just to give you a little bit of structure there for what we use to P&G, and a lot of people use this, it, even if they don’t explicitly use this, this is definitely a way that you can construct your your elevator pitch, which is the CAR Method, which is Context, Action, and Results. So all of your responses should be be designed in a way that actually allows you to tuck it in that form. So context gives a little bit of background, the reason why whatever the work you were doing, the thing that you’re engaged in, whatever the reason why, and that’s always usually a tension, a challenge a problem, not just, Hey, I was bored one day, right? And I decided to go do this kind of thing. The action is what you specifically did. So this is an i statement, okay? It doesn’t mean that you didn’t do work with teams, and you shouldn’t acknowledge your team. But in an interview, you’re using I statements, I did this, I contributed to the team, I helped the team in order to deliver this, this was my particular piece of the work. And then the results that follow it, a lot of people skip the results. And that’s a really, really big issue, because everybody is looking for not just what you did, but the impact you had, even if you can’t quantify the results, even if you can’t specifically state what your specific piece of results are, you can actually use that as a way to represent the work itself. And then take your credit as part of that.

April Martini 6:23
Yeah. And I liked that you flipped it the other way, too, if you’re going to interview because as you were talking, I was thinking I think people have two tendencies when they get nervous in interviews. One is they ramble, right? Or the other is they clam up. And so if you have this structure in your head of I must answer everything through the car method that should help guide you through whichever end you’re on and everything in between, to give an answer that is impactful, succinct enough, and has the components to be quote unquote, media enough that they feel like they’re getting a good sense of you.

Anne Candido 6:57
Yeah. And by the way, your resume should be constructed like that, too. Yep. The statements are much shorter, much clearer, much cleaner, much more sustained. But you need to be looking for those things in your resume, too. Yes, good point.

April Martini 7:10
All right. So that brings us to the second point of for interviewing tips for landing top talent, and that is to give them an assignment in real time. Yes, you heard that correctly. I know that causes people tremendous anxiety. But hear me out. There is good reason for this. So I’m sure I’ll just ask the question. Have any of you interviewed someone that spoke a good game, they get into the office, and then you find out that they can’t actually do any of the things they talked about? I’ve been there like answer at the beginning, collectively, we’ve interviewed hundreds of people, there are some people out there that this is their like, special skill is interviewing, or they’re smart, and they go and they hire a coach to help get them through the process. And they show up on that first day. And you’re like, This is not the person that interviewed many weeks ago, right? So the idea of giving them an assignment in real time allows you to assess their abilities beyond just what they say. And I will give an example for myself. And at this point in time, I was still a fairly junior employee, as it goes in agencies, I probably had five ish, six years of experience. And I was interviewing and Interbrand. And you can do this one way or another to the point of and talking about being mean, you can tell the candidate ahead of time that they are going to have an assignment. No, you don’t tell them what it is. But you know, it gives some good some in the frame of mind, or you can not tell them. I was in the camp of not being told except for I had half a dozen friends who had come before me who were working there who clued me into the fact that there would be some kind of assignment. So I got there. And I got through the initial 45 minutes or so with three people in the room in one remote that we’re going to be just generally interviewing me and I had passed enough. That was one of the things that my friends had told me, if you get through that, and you get the assignment, then you know, you’ve passed the first gate. And so they gave me an assignment related to Aussie haircare, which was one of their clients at the time, and one of the projects that they were working on. And to be clear, you’re not asking the person to solve whatever challenge you’re facing. That’s unfair, you’re in the middle of the work. You’ve worked with the client for however long they can’t have every insight. But what you’re looking to do is assess whether the person can solve problems and do the work, or learn the work that will be part of their role. So they asked me how I would build a process or what strategy I would take based on the challenge they were giving me and why I wanted to take those steps and what I would be looking for and it was related to package on shelf basically. So what would I go about doing and I’d already had a couple of years of strategy experience. So it was a fair question, because I should have done these types of assignments before But it was also an opportunity for them to really get at some of the things from the previous questions, which was because I couldn’t think on my feet, and could I be thoughtful in my response. And so in this case, I mean, I ended up working there. So I guess I solved the challenge. But the point of this is, they took into account my level what my role was going to be, and they weren’t giving me an assignment that was going to be so far out of my ability, or, you know, in 45 minutes, what was I going to come up with, but it gave them that idea of how I would approach the work. If it was the way that they did work it philosophically I had learned enough things to hit the level that they were offering me. And then also the presentation skills aspect, which we talked in the previous point about being articulate, I had to speak to these three pretty senior folks about why and make my argument for why and storytel why this was the approach that I was going to take. So again, I know this is a scary thing. And if you’re thinking on the side of the interviewee, you’re like, oh, man, but I can tell you that it level sets in a really nice way, as long as you position it, so that the person has every opportunity to be successful. It’s not about trying to trick them, you just want to make sure to my very early point that you’re not getting someone who’s a great interviewer, and then it’s gonna get there and not be able to do the role that they’ve now been hired for.

Anne Candido 11:21
I think it’s a very fair question. I’m actually very surprised because you’re a processor. I can’t imagine that you would like, top it in an interview and be like, oh, yeah, I’m all for this. Let’s like, jump right in, because

April Martini 11:34
you really got us, sir. Yeah.

Anne Candido 11:35
So that comes to preparation. So I think the name of that game is preparation. But if that feels a little bit too daunting for you guys, as a company, I’ll

April Martini 11:44
give you another one that we used to do. And that is we’re gonna give them an hour. So now the processor is offering something that typically wouldn’t allow you’re gonna give them an out.

Anne Candido 11:52
I’m not giving you an hour, I’m giving them an alternative. Right? All right, that’s what this is about, right. So the alternative I have is that you get them to talk about the industry in a way that feels conversational, but allows you to understand what their involvement, their engagement, their passion is for the industry and not saying that somebody has to love the industry that they’re in in order to be a good fit. But it helps you to understand what the way that they think. So for example, if you’re in branding and marketing, and we just had the Super Bowl, a really easy question, if you were interviewing somebody this week was, what was your favorite Superbowl ad? And why? Or what was your least favorite and why? And it’s not just because you know, they liked it or didn’t like it, or they liked that brand or didn’t like that brand. But you’re listening for the cues that you would want to hear from somebody who is going to be a critical strategic thinker for your business, assuming hiring for strategy, or maybe they’re talking about the creative because you’re hiring for creative, but you’re looking for those cues that says, oh, this person can critically diagnose and dissect something in the industry, which makes me feel competent to be able to do it for the work or be able to apply it to the work. Or if you’re in engineering, or manufacturing, like one that was asked to me, it’s like, what’s your favorite appliance? Yeah, I mean, it seems so irrelevant, right? It seems very silly. But if you’re an engineer, I mean, the whole aptitude of engineering is problem solving, figuring things out being curious and interested in how things work. Now, I’m a mechanical engineer. So that’s why the appliance but if you’re a different kind of engineer, you might have to modify that question a little bit. But when people start talking about appliances, in that way, you start kind of getting their mindset of how they think about them, how are they approaching the mechanics of them? What do they find is new and novel, where they find is maybe issues we were or improvements that could happen with the appliances, and not necessarily something that you guys actually make per se, but just something that you’re hearing how they think, how are they technical, in their, their speech, and in those sorts of cues as well. So mine, I mean, if anybody was curious, as always, the Keurig one single cup coffee brewer, not because I worked on it, you know, for years and years at p&g, and it came to fruition for just a little bit, but just like the ingenuity of that whole entire thing from the actual pod that actually holds the beverage to the whole machine. And the fact that it actually should not be able to seal like it does with the needle coming in. And it but it does in the way because of the way the film is created. It’s just really just ingenious in the way that it was constructed, which is kind of like we couldn’t replicate it in a way that actually was consistent. But anyway, that all being said, that was my favorite appliance. So

April Martini 14:31
as you geek out a little bit over there, just a little I was like sitting here like what would I see my favorite appliances and I’m not even sure I can come up with one. So therefore, why I’m not like an engineer. I can talk brands all day long, but not going to be able to talk about my favorite appliance I guess like pick the right profession.

Anne Candido 14:46
Well, there you go. That’s okay. But you might have been top telephony engineer. You know,

April Martini 14:51
I think I may have known that before this question. Especially given my grades in math and science, anyway. But all of that to say I mean it Joking aside, I think the point is right on whether you go assignment based or you go the route of talking about the industry, I think your point is well taken that you don’t have to love the industry that you’re in. But you have to understand it. Yeah. And be enthusiastic about it. And I mean, this is trickier on the branding and marketing side, right. And me, my first client at my last agency was a financial company, it was going to be a B2B play for a while, right? But because I love the inner workings of business, and that was what they were going to be challenging me with, I came in with a sense of enthusiasm, again, for a field that I knew very little about, but that I could understand the challenge that they were facing and pull from applicable industries into the conversation for them to get that I understood enough about the challenge to be able to deliver. Yeah, yeah. All right, number three, and four interviewing tips for landing top talent. I’m going to hand this one to n, have them meet with multiple people.

Anne Candido 15:55
Yeah, this is really, really important too, because you need those alternate perspectives. I mean, me as a hiring manager, especially when like, it takes a lot of effort to usually make a hire, right? Yeah, all the planning, you have to do all the priming, you have to do like, you have to get that the budget and all that kind of stuff. So you’re looking for the unicorn, like you’re gonna go get your person. And so you have your list of really high like sometimes unobtainable qualifications that everything that doesn’t quite hit, right, you’re kind of like, is this the right person or not, which means you could probably go looking forever and ever and ever. So you really need those people who think a little bit differently from you who are going to have different lenses for our evaluation, come in and help you to kind of debate and clarify back and forth what you really, really need. Because they’re going to help give you that perspective of also other hires that they’ve made and how they have dealt with maybe some of the things that you’re feeling a little concern about on your your talent pool, or if they’re gonna say, you know, what, that is a really, that is a red flag, we’ve seen it too. And that’s not something to overcome, right? So you get a little bit of checks and balances. And, and I’ll give a couple of examples from my previous experience. And both of these people are actually doing extremely surely well at P&G, my first hire, she’s phenomenal. And again, doing very, very well. But almost like was I was questioning her cuz she was coming right out of school. And I was like, gosh, is she gonna be able to think the way I needed to think and she’s gonna have that creative experience that she’s going to be able to kind of jump into the work and she interviewed, and she did really well. But those things were kind of constantly in my head. And when I asked my boss, I’m like, I don’t know, what do you think about this person? He’s like, Yeah, I think she’s great. I think she’s gonna be perfect. I’m like, Yeah, but what about the fact that, you know, when we asked her, you know, what would you do like a little bit of a little bit assignment kind of thing? What would you do, if you did this, she didn’t really have a response. He goes, well, she’s a grad student, she’s worked a lot for other people, right. And so she’s might not be able to think for herself in that moment. But she has definitely a lot of aptitude. And she’s demonstrated that she can contribute at a high level. So you just gonna have to help her, figure that out, figure out how to make her voice her own and make sure that she feels ownership. And actually, the progression of that story is one that I’ve told before where I was like, even when she got hired, I was like, Why isn’t she not taking this over? And why is she not doing this? And my boss was like, did you tell her it? Was her work? I’m like, No, I did not. So I mean, all that kind of comes together. So that’s a little bit of an addition to that story, that if even if once you hire them, if they’re doing what you were fearful that they were going to do that’s not quite what you want, are you the person that is not being clear? Are you the person who has an onboard them, or given the number right expectations. So also, when you’re bringing this group of people in, make sure you take a cross section of people, what we always did to a PNG is we would have people do what we call project talks, that were be their colleagues, if you will, and they will be working with them on the team. Now these weren’t official quote unquote, interviews and and go into the official quote, unquote, documentation. But they’re a way for us to get a really good feel of the person and a little bit more of an informal environment, where we could see hey, how do they engage? Do they ask good questions? Are they truly interested in what’s going on here? Duties, people feel like people that would fit well in the culture or they would like to work with, right. So all of those things are really helpful in order to kind of get a broad scope versus somebody like sitting in a chair in front of a panel of people. And the culture fit is really, really important. So you shouldn’t only just be interviewing for aptitude, you should be interviewing for cultural fit, because, like I just said, a lot of aptitude. Things can be trained learn, if they have that mentality that they want to grow. The culture thing is really, really hard to undo bringing like that bad apple into the bunch, especially when you have a good basket of apples can really destroy your team. So try not to fall in love with how smart they are their background where they went to school, you know who they were for before that let that cloud your judgment, if you’re really afraid that they’re going to be a bad culture fit. That is one that when I’ve been concerned about that everybody is reinforced that you should not go forward there. So that is one where all my team would say, Nope, don’t do it. Yeah, hard, no on those. And then I think the one last thing I’ll say about this is that a lot of people would say, Well, how many people should they actually interview with. And so definitely more than one, I think people tend to start getting fatigued more than five, right. And sometimes if it’s a panel interview at health, but then sometimes panel interviews feel a little bit like them versus me, and you have to kind of watch that. But just keep in mind, it’s a long day for these people, they’re going to start up hopefully, with a lot of Ain energy, but by, you know, a few people in they’re going to start feeling like they’re telling the same stories over and over, they get a little bit fatigued in their, in their delivery. And so you have to keep that in mind, too, if you’re going to give them a long day of interviews.

April Martini 20:59
Yeah, I mean, for that reason, I’m more of a fan of multiple people in the room at the same time versus one person after another. And in full disclosure, this could be a personal thing. But I’ve also seen the candidate fatigue. For me when I would have to do I remember this one time, I had to do 630 minutes back to back to back to back with no break. I didn’t even leave the room. And I would start forgetting what I was saying. Like how would I set it to because it was just like, you know, the same questions over and over and over. Yeah. But all that to say I mean, I think and your point of, you don’t want to do the panel where it feels formal, because one person versus you know, three, or five, or whatever that does feel like a lot. I had been a big fan historically, of either, like for people and like a roundtable thing in a more casual space. Again, this is agency, right, but it would make them feel comfortable about the type of dynamic, or you do like two people for a half hour and then two more people come in for a half hour. But something where you don’t have to hit that fatigue level, it also saves the team’s time, especially if you have half a dozen people that are coming in to interview, you don’t want everybody spending all their time on interviewing. So I do feel like that approach can be good. The other thing that I really like is the tour of the space. Yeah, because you can get them to meet more people informally. Number one, if you really liked the person, you can kind of preempt those next steps. But number two, you can watch them less than the formal setting of the interview and see how they interact with others in the office, which helps you assess again, the authenticity, how articulate are they? How comfortable? Are they around other people? And do they feel like they would fit into the culture as you do that walk around? So just some additional things?

Anne Candido 22:43
Yeah, we would also do a group lunch did not involve the hiring manager. Yep. So that allows him to get to meet a bunch of other people again, over informal setting. And so it gives them also a break, gotta build on breaks, give them some time for their mind to, to get a little bit of rest and then recharge a little bit, make sure that they have plenty of opportunities to get a snack, go to the bathroom. I mean, these are really important things that seem very silly. But when you start scheduling things back to back to back to back, sometimes it doesn’t allow for those times and those interviewees or may not ask for that. So make sure that you’re giving them the fuel and the rest of the need. But like Yeah, so we would do the same thing with the tours, but also for lunches, usually like three or four people to take them out to lunch and give them the really rules of like, what it’s like to work there. Right. And that was their job. And I never asked anything about what happened at lunch. Yes. What happened at lunch date at lunch? So they just give me your assessment, not give me the dirt. Yeah, don’t give me I was like, how did it go? Where’s the bill? You know, that sort of thing versus like trying to figure out in like, trying to get them all to relax so that they could just see something that you can then like, blame onto you. Right? So launch. It’s kind of was like that sacred spot that the candidate could ask whatever they wanted, and it wasn’t coming back to anybody else.

April Martini 23:57
Well, I’ll just say one final thing don’t do what the first company I ever interned with. When I got the job did. I walked in, I was one year in. I have my portfolio. I walked into a boardroom there were 14 people around the table and I just stand at the head of the table and present my portfolio my board as a baby. So maybe that’s why that assignment wasn’t so bad. At that point.

Anne Candido 24:19
Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I think that was just like, in context. Yes.

April Martini 24:24
Maybe I should have. Oh, thank

Anne Candido 24:25
God, I just have to do that. Much better than this. The truth comes out Well,

April Martini 24:31
anyway, little PTSD on that front. All right, number four for interviewing tips for landing top talent, force them to ask questions and notice the word force. Alright. And

Anne Candido 24:42
yeah, this is gonna sound a little, a little pushy, but it’s right on, because interviewing goes both ways. And this can serve one to make sure that they do end up asking the questions that they need to ask because a lot of times candidates could feel very hesitant to ask the question sense because they don’t want to come off a certain way or seem like they’re fishing for certain things, or they’re reading certain agendas. But also questions means that they’re curious and you want curious people that are going to work for you. And it makes sure that they’re also thinking about whether or not this is a good place for them as much as it whether or not it is a, they’re a good candidate for you and to fit your role. So if they have no questions for you, one, it’s a red flag, but you shouldn’t let it lie, you need to make sure that they are encouraged to ask those questions. And so what you might want to do is you might want to ask them, hey, about something that they may have seen that day. So I saw I heard you how to a meeting or discussion with so and so how did that go? What did you find interesting? Was there something about that that really percolated for you? What questions would you’ve had? Or did you ask them, you know, so maybe they’ve asked questions of others. So sometimes it’s just about kind of like drawing it out and pulling it out, because they might be very hesitant to ask them of you. I would say make sure, though, that you give them that time, make sure that you are asking them and giving that opportunity, but don’t let them off the hook. Because you need to understand and they need to understand whether or not this is the right role for them as well. Yeah,

April Martini 26:21
I mean, I think that’s so true. And on our coaching side, right? When we are coaching people to go and interview, one of the first things we tell them on like the checklist of what you must do is ask questions.

Anne Candido 26:31
Yeah. Questions, make sure you have three to five questions. Yes. And it’s because

April Martini 26:35
you should be vetting them just as much as they are vetting you. I mean, there are plenty of times where I mean, the last agency I was at was called Curiosity. So people didn’t come with questions. It was kind of like, okay, I mean, I think she kind of missed the point of this agency. Right. So it was definitely a vetting criteria. But I do think that if you push back, and it doesn’t have to be in an aggressive way I was always famous for you’ve just spent an hour with us, you really have no questions like it could be why did you paint that on the wall there? I don’t care what it is, you know, but just to get them warmed up and talking. I think it does give you a good sense of resilience with them. And how, again, going back to thinking on their feet. And being told you must ask one question, what comes back? I mean, I think it’s a different set of evaluation, right? And so on one hand, yes, it can be a look, if they don’t have any questions, they’re out because it means they’re not curious, whatever. On the other hand, it could be a another way in to see how their minds work, what they’re thinking and all that. And then I would just reiterate that if you are interviewing for anything, please have questions, because you wouldn’t believe how many times people say I think you’ve covered it all. And they’re kind of like antsy to get out of the room.

Anne Candido 27:48
Yeah, and I even like I said, When Ainsley was interviewing for college scholarships, college admissions and stuff, we even talked about her questions to ask there were just about everything you want is online, right? Yes. It’s still it was like, Okay, let’s ask some good questions. Make sure they understand it, you’re interested that you have done your research that you’ve done your homework that you have insight into how they operate in, it sets you apart, the questions can set you apart, can differentiate you from other candidates?

April Martini 28:19
Well, I think one of the easiest ways you can do that is by caveat, adding it in. I’ve read everything online or read these publications. But it’s always better to get it you know, through the voice of the person that I’m going to be working with or for or you know, who’s been here a while or whatever. And in that event, you can have the same one or two questions, you can ask everybody the same thing, even in the round table environment, something like that is relevant. So it doesn’t have to be a ton of preparation, what you’re hearing us say is, it just is so important to the engagement of the interview process on both sides. Love it. All right. And our final segment is where we highlight companies or brands that may or may not be using their Marketing Smarts today. It has nothing to do with the topic of interviewing, maybe has a little bit to do with my mental and physical sanity. But anyway, I have chosen Move Your Hyde Power Yoga. And the reason I chose them is because I feel like they really live their brand well. So they offer hot yoga classes, they may offer other stuff. They’re newer to me, but I historically did a couple solid years of really intensive hot yoga. And this was like the kind where you walked in you were silent. You were dripping when you left there. I mean, it was intimidating. If you had never been before, it was very clear. The ones that were regulars that had their same space and whatever and they would get annoyed including me at one point with the new bees and the talking and whatever. So I have not been back since I got pregnant with me. So I’ve gone now a couple of weeks in a row, but what I really like about them is first of all, I think the name is clever. It’s Move Your Hyde because we’re in Hyde Park. So and they sit right on the square. So that was point one for them. And on the other side, there’s a lot of levity to the class. Now I will say it’s levity, but without lack of workout, because that’s another like balance for me. But I really wasn’t ready to get back into a room that was that intensive, especially because it had been so long. And what I love about this group is same with the name like it kind of carries through where they don’t take themselves too seriously. But they don’t want you to waste your time. They want everybody to feel included, they pack people in, but they’re like non negotiable about that. It’s like, it’s 911 11 that’s the number you guys are gonna have to move out of the way. And the instructor while she talks the whole time. She’s just again, like, I love it. He is the word. It’s just like light. And it’s your practice. And you know, she always has a playlist, which I chuckle at every time I find myself like giving a little laugh a couple times during the class. And there’s also no mirrors. Really, yeah, which would have stressed me out previously. But it’s just like, the whole idea is that you’re in your space, there’s no judgment, and you should be able to focus inwardly to outwardly on your practice. And I’ve just had such a good time. I mean, I and part of it was I had this barrier in my head of my previous experience and what this might be, but I just I feel like it’s a very consistent on brand experience. Now I’ve only had that one instructor, but I asked him these questions to my sister as well and was sort of hunting around to see if it’s consistent experience wise. And she said, it’s the same sort of thing where they’re living into the brand. They’re not living into each individual instructors style of running a class. So I just wanted to give them some kudos. I mean, I think that they’ve found their niche of Who Wants to Be a part of that community. And they’re serving a community of people that maybe aren’t what you would typically think of as hardcore. Yogi’s?

Anne Candido 31:59
Interesting. Yeah, that no mirror thing kind of like freaks me out a little bit, because I use it to check form. And I like I said, I stand and I go in the front of the room. And I actually go to a different one. But I won’t take anything away from your marketing smarts moment here about who I go to. But I mean, I’m like in the second row, third row. So I see the people in front of me, but being able to see the people in the mirror for me gives me a sense of community in column, so that have an emir, it’d be like, ah, that kind of sucks. Well, I

April Martini 32:28
didn’t even notice it at first, because the first class I’m in the very back, so I wouldn’t have been able to like, you see everybody anyway. Yeah. So I was seeing everybody, but I was in the front this time. And I was like, Why is this so weird? And I’m like, Oh, my gosh, there’s no, nurse. Yeah.

Anne Candido 32:39
So yeah, well, good. I love my yoga. I’m glad that you found that I think it’ll be very beneficial and

April Martini 32:45
I am extraordinarily sore day two after my last class, so

Anne Candido 32:48
it’s working. Absolutely. All right, so

April Martini 32:52
just to recap, 4 interviewing tips for landing top talent. Number one, ask them to give you their elevator pitch. This is not the history of their resume, it’s their sales pitch for why you should want them. Number two, give them an assignment in real time. This prevents a great interviewee from being a lackluster employee when they show up on the job. Number three, have them meet with multiple people more than one perspective is essential and will help with cultural fit as well. And finally, number four, force them to ask questions. Every candidate should have questions and be betting the company while being vetted themselves. And with that, we will say go and exercise your Marketing Smarts! Still need help in growing your Marketing Smarts? Contact us through our website: ForthRight-People.com. We can help you become a savvier marketer through coaching or training you and your team or doing the work on your behalf. Please also help us grow the podcast by rating and reviewing on your player of choice and sharing with at least one person. Now, go show off your Marketing Smarts!