Just get the recruitment consultant to do it for you can be the easiest way or check around with your friends for personal recommendations (referral) or check with your staffs whether they have anyone fit for the job. But what exactly you need to look when hiring a Marketing Manager. Emmmm..I won’t ask HR practitioner because they will refer to the job description which usually is unusual and impractical if you really know the job of a Marketing Manager. I never ever in the position of a Marketing Manager (by title), but I am a marketing man and consultant by profession, therefore with this little knowledge that i accumulated over the years, been at the client side and consultant side, reviewed numerous marketing literature and went through diverse marketing campaigns, i humbly said that i know exactly what we need to look for in hiring a Marketing Manager.

This post was derived from a conversation that i had with a close friend who lives in Malaysia who recently was interviewed and interviewed (2 times) and going to be interviewed (the 3rd time) as a Marketing Manager for a herbal company. He sounded frustrated but i think he needs some time to realize that we can’t impose our skills to a company until they see value to what we have i.e. our competencies. The moment i said that, he said Ahaa!! i think i know what i can do. I hope he doesn’t stalk the employer, but i am sure he wouldn’t do that.

Marketing Manager job is not really a big thing because they are likely to report to Marketing Director or Chief Marketing Officer or the Managing Director himself. Whatever it is, as a Marketing Manager (the job is management function) it requires the candidate to do product launching, public relation and advertising. Right? Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! This was what happened to my friend because towards the end after he explained what his experiences were for total 6 interview hours, all he got was “i think we need a person who have launched product before and you know that down there it is really different.” Fortunately my friend didn’t went ballistic because otherwise he would have lost the 3rd opportunity too, which is interview with the CEO.

For a true Marketing Manager job, here are the criteria that i think pertinent with the job that coming:

1. Strategist
The Marketing Manager must have a strategist mentality and mindset. It means, he needs to concern about strategy first before even thinking about his implementation. Being a strategist must have “the end goals” first. It means we need to know whether do we have what we want and strategy is how-to achieve it in less time, more profits, faster delivery etc..

2. Thirst for Information

Successful marketing is about getting the right information at the right time with the right implementation and corrective measures. A Marketing Manager has decision making role, therefore having enough or extra information is vital. Information here means not just own industry but complemeting, substitute and so on. Marketing Manager that cannot comment on other industry is myopic and narrowed minded. Therefore, if your Marketing Manager only know herbal industry, don’t hire him!

3. Cross Industry Knowledge

Do you know the early use of Internet is for military purposes. Whereby the Pentagon send secret mail to another recipient. What happen to Internet now? As you can see, knowledge from other industry or stream can be used, duplicated, modified and so on for another purpose. This is true when we have prepaid, postpaid, bundle, break bulk, revenue management, price discrimination etc..These are examples of strategies used in marketing that are adopted from cross industries. Not knowing these and if a Marketing Manager doesn’t know this, it is wasteful!

4. Maturity

Many equate maturity with age. Certainly it comes with age but not necessary particular age. My friend happened to be 30 years old, MBA graduate and a strategy consultant. he has done numerous marketing projects including implementation and monitoring, also involved in a few portal and blueprint strategic levels. When he was interviewed for a marketing position, he was told he was too young to think “strategically but somehow you impressed me but i still don’t trust you”. My friend just smile and said perhaps “you are too long here and not looking other than your job or i am just a plain genius.”. The HR Director stunned and abruptly ended the interview. Surprisingly my friend is called for the 3rd interview with the CEO!

5. Bird’s Eyeview

Being in marketing role is not just about the product or service you provide. it’s about looking at the customer, operation, manufacturing, finance, HR, sales, pricing, advertising and distribution channels. In other words, Marketing Manager must be able to see all these interactions at play and assist in shaping it to meet the customer needs. Because marketing is dealing with the customers and customers are KING, therefore having someone that is a strong communicator, deliver results and able to see the total business is crucial. Some people are strong only at communicating but lousy manager. A solid Marketing Manager must see total, so he can contribute.

6. Believe in the Product

My friend was asked, “how much percentage can you give of your believe to our product?” my friend was stunned and mentioned “if this question going to make or break my interview, it will not break me”. He continued, “because i have tasted or even see your product in reality. But based on information that i have gathered, people that lead this company and online entries in blogs, i think around 70-80%”. They asked, ‘why don’t you believe 100%”. I personally think this question is an insult because how can you believe in a product that you haven’t tasted or touched? But as a Marketing Manager, especially after you touch and taste the product, you need to ask the customer whether they like it or not. It is ok if you don’t like it, but the customer must agree with it. They buy from you so we need to listen to them.

I can add few more but this post going to be too long. I shall continue. 🙂

Meanwhile, i am 99% ready with my Marketing Plan e-book and shall launch it in less than a month. Woowhhoooo!! Check the book out on Facebook/Mike Entreprenovator and our blog http://marketingplanbook.wordpress.com