Product, marketing and design
A first round for a social media manager should establish whether they understand each platform on its own terms, can keep a calendar running without letting quality slip, and know what to do when a post goes wrong. Ask about accounts they ran and the decisions behind them.
The job is part performance, part judgment, and AI-led follow-ups ask what they’d do when a post goes sideways.
What to screen for
The questions
Ask them in order. Listen for specifics: what happened, what they did, how it ended.
Strong answer
Names the audience and gives concrete examples of format, length and tone changing from one platform to the next.
Weak answer
Posted the same content everywhere.
Strong answer
Themes tied to business goals, a shared calendar, batching production, approvals, and space left for reactive posts.
Weak answer
Plans each post the day before.
Strong answer
Pauses scheduled posts, works out whether the criticism is fair, escalates, and agrees a response with the team before replying.
Weak answer
Deletes the comments, or argues back alone.
Strong answer
Describes the specific post, gives a testable reason like the hook, format or timing, and says what they changed afterward.
Weak answer
“It was the algorithm.”
Strong answer
Ties each metric to a goal: reach for awareness, clicks or sign-ups for acquisition, saves and replies for engagement.
Weak answer
Follower count, with nothing else.
Strong answer
Has a filter, such as fit with the brand voice and whether it can be made well in time, and gives an example of one they skipped.
Weak answer
Joins every trend, or ignores them all.
Strong answer
Writes clear briefs, uses templates, and knows which pieces they can make themselves.
Weak answer
Waits for assets and misses the moment.
Strong answer
Explains the specific risk, offers an alternative, and if overruled, prepares for the replies.
Weak answer
Posts it without saying anything, or refuses outright.
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 social media manager candidate gets the same questions, and you get a score for each skill with the quote behind it.
Look at the brand accounts they managed instead. A personal account tells you little about how they’ll run yours, and it can surface things you shouldn’t weigh in a hiring decision.
A small one, after the first round. Ask for a week of sample posts for one platform from a short brief, keep it to a couple of hours, and pay for it if you might use the work.
Start with 10 free interviews a month. No card, no sales call.