Communication Specialists handle all internal and external communications for an organization. This can include marketing campaigns, advertising, press releases, press kits, informational materials, media reports, social media content, website content among others. They apply their communications strategy to ensure consistency and clarity in displaying an organization’s brand with the goal of engaging customers to drive business growth. They often collaborate with other marketing professionals as well as design and sales teams to meet their communications goals. Performing this role requires excellent communication and copywriting skills as well as analytical skills to implement and assess communications strategies.
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Communication
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Content Management
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Copywriting
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Content Creation
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Proofreading
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Strategy Execution
Hireguide’s Communications Specialist Interview Template
While it might seem difficult to figure out whether a candidate will succeed as a Communications Specialist in your company, a well-developed set of interview questions that tap into the core skills required to perform in a Communications Specialist role will go a long way in helping you decide.
But where do you start? How do you develop a set of great interview questions?
The best interview questions come directly from a job analysis. A job analysis is an evidence-based method that focuses on assessing key features of a particular role. These features describe both the job itself (i.e., tasks, responsibilities, and performance objectives), and the characteristics required of someone to perform successfully in the job (e.g., knowledge, skills, and abilities). A job analysis forms the basis of many HR practices such as compensation, performance management, and - you guessed it - how to interview and hire candidates.
At Hireguide, we’ve done the job analysis work for you. We’ve used the method to identify a core set of skills associated with the Communications Specialist role, and we’ve developed and validated a list of behavioral and situational questions with answer guides that tap directly into those core skills. And that’s not all. We’ve compiled these questions and created a Communications Specialist Interview Template for you that integrates other interviewing best practices. Skills-based interviews will not only help you make higher quality and evidence-based hiring decisions, but research also shows they enhance fairness and reduce bias in your hiring process.
Example questions to ask
Question 1
Imagine you are tasked with determining whether a marketing strategy is effective or not. What are the specific metrics you would look to track?
Answer Tips
- Discusses conversion rate, brand awareness and/or customer engagement
- Has knowledge of various strategies (penetration, diversification, promotion, etc.)
- Shows they know how to improve ineffective strategies
- Exhibits knowledge of and ability to track outcomes
- Clarifies company vs. campaign level goals
Question 2
Tell me about a time you wrote a press release that had a major impact on a business (e.g. it successfully improved the brand's image). What made it effective and what was the impact?
Answer Tips
- Describes the objectives, context and target audience
- Elaborates on the communication strategy and how it was implemented
- Provides evidence/metrics for how the press release impacted the business
- Discusses the importance of an eye-catching headline
Question 3
Imagine you have to manage multiple social media accounts, blogs and websites for a business. What tools would you use to manage all the content, and how would you use them?
Answer Tips
- Lists content management tools (e.g. Hootsuite, Buffer, etc.)
- Utilizes scheduling tools to post in advance in order to free up time
- Uses a content calendar to organize the multiple accounts and platforms
- References evidence/examples to justify why and where tools have been effective
