AMA: Qualia Director, Demand Generation, Laura Lewis on Demand Generation Interviews

Practice makes permanent, not perfect. The only way you can become a better interviewer is to practice - but to also get feedback on your practice so you can adjust what isn't working well. Sign up for mock interviews or career coaching classes at your local library or university. Ask a friend or trusted colleague to role-play an interview with you. If that's not available, ask your interviewer at the end. One of the best questions to close with is, "Do you have any concerns about my candidacy a ...Read More

The most important skills for a Demand Generation manager, in my opinion, are: Organizational. There are always a lot of projects and moving pieces going on at the same time in this role. You'll be launching new ad campaigns, then need to review a test email, then have an invoice come in that needs to be sent over to finance. Being able to remain organized, manage your time well, and not drop any pieces is critical. Detail-oriented. The campaigns you launch are meant to be seen by people and rep ...Read More

When I'm looking for a new role, I have a couple of steps in my process. First, I narrow down the job titles and types of companies I'm looking for. This might mean I only apply to Director of Demand Generation jobs at SaaS companies over 500 employees. At the manager level, decide if you're looking for Manager, Senior Manager, what type of company your experience best aligns with or you are most interested in, and if there is any other criteria that is important to you. Before beginning intervi ...Read More

I find interviews to be the most successful as a hiring manager when I prep the questions I want to ask in advance. For a 30-minute interview, I'll have 6 or 7 questions ready to go. These questions are a mix of situational questions "Tell me about a time when..." and more general questions around the person's goals, strengths and weaknesses, and achievements. I'll also ensure that any cross-functional partners in the process have a good understanding of the seniority of the ideal candidate we a ...Read More

One of the mistakes I see most often (and this applies to any interview) is not doing your prep work. Take 15 minutes to read about the company and understand what they do. The goal of this isn't to answer the question "What do you know about us?" but to inform the questions you ask your interviewer. For example, if I know the company I'm interviewing with sells AI technology, I can ask about how they are dealing with the popularity of ChatGPT. Or, if the company sells into real estate, I can as ...Read More

One of my all-time favorites is "What is your biggest weakness?" The best answers are real, show that the candidate knows themselves well, and are structured in a way that also shows they are working on improving that thing. Don't just say "I'm bad at technology," say instead, "Sometimes I struggle with new technology platforms. I realized that this was slowing down my ability to launch campaigns, so now whenever we bring on a new platform I sign up for the onboarding program and watch all the t ...Read More