Product, marketing and design
A first round for a marketing manager should establish whether they know who they’re selling to, can connect campaigns to pipeline or revenue, and can run a budget without losing the thread. Ask about campaigns they ran, not ones they admired.
Campaign stories are easy to tell in broad strokes, and AI-led follow-ups ask for the goal, the numbers and the candidate’s own part.
What to screen for
The questions
Ask them in order. Listen for specifics: what happened, what they did, how it ended.
Strong answer
Covers the audience, the goal, the channels, rough budget and the result against the goal, plus what they’d change next time.
Weak answer
Talks about the creative and reach, with no goal or outcome.
Strong answer
Names a specific segment, a specific pain and what set the product apart from the real alternative, even if that was a spreadsheet.
Weak answer
Lists features, or says the product was for everyone.
Strong answer
Cuts based on evidence of what performed, protects what feeds pipeline, and explains what the business will lose and how they’d tell leadership.
Weak answer
Cuts evenly across every channel, or can’t say which channels work.
Strong answer
Is honest about the limits of attribution and combines source data, sales conversations and simple tests like pausing a channel.
Weak answer
Trusts one dashboard’s last-click numbers without question.
Strong answer
Looked at the data with sales, agreed a shared definition of a qualified lead, and changed targeting or handoff as a result.
Weak answer
Blames sales for not following up.
Strong answer
Gives audience, one core message, constraints, examples of good and bad, a deadline and how reviews will work.
Weak answer
“I send them the details and give feedback.”
Strong answer
Owns the decision, names a specific reason it failed, and describes something they do differently since.
Weak answer
The failure was the market, the budget or another team.
Strong answer
Separates the two goals, sets a different measure for each, and says openly what gets less attention as a result.
Weak answer
Promises both in full without making any trade-off.
Before the interview
Quick facts to read alongside the interview. They aren’t scored.
Listen for
Avoid
Use this in LessRounds
Paste the questions into a scripted interview, add the scorecard skills, and share one link. Every marketing manager candidate gets the same questions, and you get a score for each skill with the quote behind it.
Past campaigns and the numbers behind them. Ask what the goal was, what happened and what they’d change. The detail in the answer tells you whether they ran it or watched it.
Not in the first round. If you want one later, keep it short, give real context, and pay for anything you might use.
Start with 10 free interviews a month. No card, no sales call.