AMA: Observable Head of Growth Marketing, Erika Barbosa on Demand Generation Interviews

The best demand generation candidates have curiosity in common. The demand gen space is constantly evolving. If you are not curious, it’s difficult to keep up. How do you stay curious and motivate curiosity? Keep reading, learning and exploring topics of interest. Embody a testing mentality. Develop new skills. If you pair curiosity with trainability, you have gold. It’s not a requirement to have an advanced degree to have a demand gen career. Many of the skills can be developed through free res ...Read More

My favorite demand generation interview question is around how do you measure success. I tailor the question based on the role, but the essence of the question is the same. This is my favorite question because I’m a believer of being data informed within demand generation. Right away I can gauge the sophistication of the candidate's experience based on this question. I’m looking for an understanding of how to gauge performance and the rigor of data analysis you’ll have with your programs. This o ...Read More

You can improve your interviewing skills in what I group as five different but complementary categories. Preparation: This is first and foremost. The more prepared you are the more confidence you’ll have. Regardless of what level you are at in your career, I’m an advocate for preparation. It will just take different shapes depending on the stage you are at. Get your reps in: The more experience you have interviewing for demand generation roles, the more improvement will become evident. This just ...Read More

It’s critical to understand what autonomy looks like for you before the interview. Once you have clarity on your definition of autonomy, consider the following types of questions. Questions for your potential manager: What does leadership look like to you? How do you typically manage workflows, reviews/approvals, and other processes that I would have in this role? How do you like your direct reports to communicate with you? Depending on the role, your skill set, and who you are interviewing with ...Read More

Some of the most common red flags I’ve encountered were around speaking to information on your resume and lack of attention to detail. Here are some examples: Placeholders left such as for revenue. I’ve received resumes that left placeholders such as “$X,XXX,XXX revenue”. While this may seem like a minor concern, attention to detail is necessary for demand generation roles. One small mistake could impact the budget for an ad campaign. While this doesn’t mean mistakes won’t happen, things like th ...Read More

The key to this question is to review a variety of resources from different perspectives to form your own viewpoint. Based on my experience, this method has proven to be the most effective for me. Here are three resources that include several interview questions for inspiration: 100 Demand Generation Interview Questions for You What Does a Demand Generation Manager Do? (And How to Become One) 31 Must-Ask Interview Questions for Marketing Jobs Also, I challenge you to think outside of the box of ...Read More

I’ve grouped the most common areas of opportunity for candidates below. See these items as opportunities for growth that are very doable to overcome. Not being prepared. This may seem obvious, but it happens often enough to note it. Specifically for demand gen, you have to be able to demonstrate either a deep understanding on a topic or be trainable for an entry level role.  Not being familiar with a recent update in the industry that is timely. For example, if you are interviewing for an SEO ro ...Read More

Partnership with sales is critical. It’s important to have an open line of communication with them for unified success. How do you articulate the importance of collaboration? Constant feedback loop. Express the mutual benefit of a constant feedback loop. This will benefit sales / revenue equally. Respond versus react. With collaboration you can respond in a meaningful way to what’s most impactful and continue iterating. Sales are on the front lines. Understanding their feedback on how customers ...Read More

Below you’ll find a sample of the questions I like to ask in interviews for demand generation roles. Why? They are telling regardless of the specialization of the role and can be tailored. How would you measure success in XYZ type of campaign? I’m looking for an answer that speaks to a strong understanding of performance and measuring impact. Describe to me your perspective on what the demand generation funnel looks like? This is dependent on the business model, but I’m looking for a unique blen ...Read More