Six Interviewing Strategies When Seeking
Young PR Professionals
Aug 04,
2003
PR professionals entering the field in the past several
years have experienced both the feast of the dot-com boom and the famine of the
subsequent bust. And while hundreds of PR folk have gone from stock options to
COBRA options, some might argue that on the whole the industry has benefited
from the roller coaster ride.
The imposters have been cut loose, and the survivors have
adapted to keep pace with a more competitive environment. The result, as
morbidly Darwinian as it may sound, has been a clarification within the field,
and the evolution of the species. While specialists may have ruled in the past,
even the largest companies are migrating toward people with broader skill sets.
The bar has been raised for fledgling professionals entering the field.
Today's PR director expects a more well-rounded professional
than ever before -- someone equally skilled with his pen, phone, computer and,
lest we forget, wits. So as the economy rebounds and you begin to re-expand
your team, how do you make certain you're getting the cream of the crop?
Following are some tips -- culled from conversations with senior communications
pros -- on hiring responsibilities from several settings, which can separate
the wheat from the chaff.
1. Make them write for you on the spot. Speaking of pros(e), there isn't a
member of your team who doesn't need to be able to write well. Asked where the
biggest gap in young PR pros' skill sets are, senior professionals scream back,
"Writing skills!" You may think you cover that by requesting writing
samples whenever you're conducting your search for new professionals. But does
this really give you a view of applicants' actual skills? Most often, these are
items that have already been edited by their former superiors, or perhaps even
written in a team atmosphere. You simply don't know what that first draft
looked like. A good writer can, on the fly, take any set of messages and orient
them into cohesive, compelling communications. So ask your interviewees to
write something on the spot.
2. Make them pitch you on the spot. In addition to asking candidates
how they'd approach a day where the power went out but the phones still worked,
put them through the gauntlet of an actual "phone" pitch. Much like
the writing exercise, this activity will force interviewees to demonstrate
their ability to effectively and efficiently communicate - to get a quick read
of their audience and choose the words that will inspire action. If your
company's positioning is a bit complicated for a first-blush pitch, have them
pitch you on a well-known consumer product, even if that doesn't reflect your
company's usual audience. If someone can convince you that Yoo-hoo! belongs on
the front page, you've probably got a winner. And even if (s)he can't, you'll
be able to tell just how comfortable the interviewee is when verbally spinning
in real-time.
3. Ask them about the initiative that
went wrong. During
the boom, many communications professionals' titles and salaries inflated past
their expertise levels, and many never really did the high-level work that
would have been associated with their roles ten years earlier. As a wise
colleague says, if you haven't been on a team where a program went awry, you
probably haven't been doing anything particularly interesting. Asking about
specific incidences of failure goes beyond the usual, "What are your
faults" type questions. Their answers will illustrate not only whether
they have the general experience they claim, but also whether they learned
anything from it. Top candidates will explain how they saved programs despite
obstacles, illuminating problem-solving skills, and perhaps even revealing
their stress threshold.
4. Ask them all about your company. A decade ago, if you weren't a
public company issuing an annual report, it might have been unrealistic to
expect the interviewee to understand your business and be aware of your
philosophies. No longer. Your Web site alone furnishes a wealth of information
about your company, including descriptions of clients, offerings, approach, milestones
and even personality. A simple Google search yields further intelligence,
including media coverage, industry buzz and sometimes even issue-specific
indicators of perception. Research is a keystone in the foundation of our
profession, and a lack of knowledge about the people to whom they're talking
demonstrates either a lack of enthusiasm and/or experience.
5. Get a read on the interviewee's
sense of entitlement.
Do your prospects 'get it?' Are their compensation expectations in line with
their experience level? Do they ask fewer questions about your business and
clients than about your 401K? Are they convincing when they say they don't mind
administrative work? The bottom line is that candidates without a
"can-do" attitude usually end up canned.
6. Find out what they're doing to hone
their craft. In PR,
proactive people do the best work. Weed out the paycheck-cashers and look for
candidates who want to improve their skills -- and can prove it by regularly
participating in professional development activities. Don't settle for vague
answers on the degree of their involvement, as it's easy to get on an
organization's committee and not do a lick of work. Ask questions about
specific projects, activities and relationships to determine whether they are
passive participants in organizations or, potentially, future leaders.
Altogether, these recommendations will give your candidates
a chance to truly stand out in their interviews and demonstrate their actual PR
knowledge and skills. After all, in a world of spin, assuring your candidates
can actually "walk the walk" they talk may save you from a lot of
ramp-up time, and even the burden of restarting your search.
Contact: Ian Lipner, the founder of YoungPRPros.com, is an
account manager at Washington, DC-based Stanton Communications. He can be
reached at ilipner@stantoncomm.com.