Intro
One of the biggest mistakes I see businesses make when recruiting senior marketing people happens before they’ve even spoken to a candidate.
They start with the job title.
“We need a Marketing Director.”
“We need a Head of Digital.”
“We need a CMO.”
Fine.
But what do you actually need them to do?
Because two businesses can both be recruiting a Marketing Director and need completely different people.
One might need somebody to build a marketing function from scratch.
Another needs someone to inherit 25 people and make them better.
One needs brand transformation.
Another desperately needs commercial growth.
And occasionally, when you properly get underneath it, the “Marketing Director” brief turns out to be about three different jobs wearing a trench coat. 😂
Before you start recruiting, I’d answer these seven questions.
1. What problem are they actually coming in to solve?
Not what tasks will they perform.
What problem exists in the business that means you’re hiring somebody?
Growth has stalled?
The brand needs repositioning?
Customer acquisition is becoming too expensive?
The marketing team needs leadership?
You’ve grown to £20m without really having a marketing strategy?
Start there.
2. What needs to be different 12 months after they join?
This is one of my favourite questions when taking a senior brief.
Imagine we’re sitting here a year from now and you tell me:
“David, this person has been absolutely bloody brilliant.”
What’s changed?
That answer tells me considerably more than a list of 25 responsibilities copied from somebody else’s job description.
3. What decisions will they actually be allowed to make?
This matters particularly with Marketing Director and CMO appointments.
You can recruit somebody brilliant, but if every meaningful decision still has to go through the founder or CEO, you’ve got a problem.
Be realistic about the mandate.
4. What are they inheriting?
Team.
Budget.
Agencies.
Technology.
Data.
Brand.
Commercial expectations.
And, sometimes, a bit of a mess.
A marketer who’s brilliant at building from zero isn’t necessarily the same person who’s brilliant at transforming an established function.
5. What’s genuinely non-negotiable?
This is where briefs often get ridiculous.
“We need somebody who’s worked in exactly our sector, at exactly our size, selling exactly our product, to exactly our customer…”
Eventually you’ve described one person.
And they probably don’t want the job. 😂
Separate what someone must already have from what a bloody good person could learn.
6. How are you going to assess whether they’re actually good?
A CV tells you where somebody worked.
It doesn’t necessarily tell you whether they were any good when they got there.
Ask for evidence.
What changed because of them?
What did they personally own?
What was the starting point?
What were the results?
What went wrong?
How did they respond?
Go beyond the CV.
7. Why would somebody brilliant want this job?
Businesses spend loads of time defining what they want from candidates.
Less time asking why the best candidates would want them.
If you’re trying to attract somebody who’s already successful, well paid and reasonably happy, “competitive salary and great culture” probably isn’t getting them out of bed.
What’s the opportunity?
Get that clear before you go to market.