How marketing can help your next job interview

“In many ways, advertising is similar to applying for a job,” says Sharon Napier, CEO of advertising agency Partners + Napier.

As marketers, we’re all trying to sell brands to consumers in the hope that they’ll throw it in their “shopping cart”, ask friends about it, or engage with it online. Think about a job application — we market ourselves through our CV and cover letter. The consumer (i.e employers), asks our friends about the product (i.e us the job seekers) and engage with us online (i.e stalk our social media).

Both advertising and job application are all about the art of brand-building and smart persuasion. Say you’ve successfully marketed yourself through your CV, how do you prepare to market yourself when you’re in the hot seat (i.e the interview)?

First and foremost, you have to know your value proposition. You have to know your skills and talents that are marketable, who and what you’re all about professionally. Your value proposition is the promise of value that you’ll deliver to the prospective employers. This is basically the answer to the burning question “Why should we hire you?”. You want to convey what sets you apart from other candidates and how you would be a benefit to the employer.

Number two, you need to know your ‘target market’. Before walking in into that interview you have to know the company, the industry, and the person who’s interviewing you (stalk them back). Know their style and culture. You basically don’t want to create a campaign without knowing anything about your target market.

Number three, be the solution for problems the company want to solve. If you’re applying for a marketing job and the company’s having problems of ineffective advertising, prepare examples detailing how you’ll solve those problems and how you’ve solved similar problems in the past. This way you’ll avoid empty cliches by backing up your skills with relevant and specific stories.

Lastly, you don’t want to be a product that is all marketing and little substance. I’m talking about putting your best foot forward while knowing your strengths and communicating them in a memorable and persuasive way.

Now that you got all these in the bag, 

Stanley Ritz Kurniawan

Current student in the Master of Marketing program at the University of Sydney Business School