I’ve spent a large amount of time over the last few years trying to find the right questions to ask in an interview to assess the skills, knowledge, and strategic thinking of a candidate. The list has been narrowed down to 10 questions (well, really 12, but who is counting?). Please add your thoughts or questions that you insist on asking in the comments.

1.       On a scale of 1-10, how do you rate yourself as a search marketer?

a.       What is a 10?

b.      What is a 5?

2.       What thought leaders do you follow?

3.       What are your thoughts and practices around match types?

4.       What/how do you manage Yahoo/Bing?

5.       How do you manage Google’s content network?

6.       Using examples, how have you improved quality scores?

7.       Using examples, how have you increased volume on an account?

8.       Using examples, how have you reduced acquisition costs at same or higher volume levels?

9.       What are your thoughts on portfolio theory?

10.     What reports do you look at daily, weekly, and monthly?

Related: Interview Questions for SEO and SEM CEOs and 25 SEO Interview Questions

Tags: interviewing, sem, top ten

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at 10:53 pm and is filed under articles, paid search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.