Provincial Head-Sales

Interview questions about the future should be brought back to accomplishments of the past. In other words, when asked about how you would deal with possible future scenarios, refer to your past accomplishments. Your answers should focus on successful campaigns with statement such as, "While I was with company XYZ, I initiated both low cost lead generation strategies and several viral marketing campaigns, using an almost inexistent budget to boost profits by 200%."

This is a question for senior M&A bankers and is intended to test their truthfulness and willingness to learn from mistakes. Correct answer is something along the lines of: "'I'd been calling a client for 18 months and he told me there were no deals he wanted to do - but six months later he did a deal through a competitor. It taught me the value of staying in touch with the client even when he says there's nothing going on."

Before giving you an answer, the best candidates will come back and ask you about the blog's metrics, how many leads and customers it generates, what the goals are for it, how much you're investing in it, and so on. This is also a great way to test whether they actually prepared for the interview by reading your blog.

As you answer questions about your accomplishments with other companies, be specific. Simply stating, "I ran several online marketing campaigns" does not adequately show what you can do for the company. Better answers should resemble, "I started a social media campaign that utilized targeted advertising systems to market the company's services to youth in North America." You will also need to elaborate. Use numbers that support the campaign, such as "Within three financial quarters, sales increased by 427% and brand recognition vastly improved by 10% within the target demographic."

We ask this question before we bring any candidate into the office for an in-person interview. It's a simple question, but it never fails to indicate whether or not someone is worth meeting in person. One of our core values is company culture and people and this question is the simplest way to tell whether or not the person is the right fit for our company.

The reasons we ask this question are twofold. First, it gives us the insight into the candidate's ability to fit into our already defined sales culture, one that is also quite quirky. Second, candidates' answers show us if they have the ability and bravado to express an opinion on the spot, a skill which is essential to the 'insight selling' process. Not only does this help us eliminate candidates who can't think on their feet, we sometimes get some cool ideas about how to change the office!

This is a straightforward question. All you have to do is make sure that your 'likes' correspond to the skills required for the job on offer. Be enthusiastic; describe your job as interesting and diverse but do not overdo it - after all, you are looking to leave.

Marketing is changing constantly at a rapid pace -- so anyone in a marketing role needs to know how to stay on top of and adapt to these changes. Do they know where to look for industry news? Are they familiar with and subscribed to top marketing blogs? What do they do when they see a change has taken place, like when Google updates their algorithm?

Do not say you have none - this will lead to further problems. You have two options - use a professed weakness such as a lack of experience (not ability) on your part in an area that is not vital for the job. The second option is to describe a personal or professional weakness that could also be considered to be a strength and the steps you have taken to combat it. An example would be: "I know my team think I'm too demanding at times - I tend to drive them pretty hard but I'm getting much better at using the carrot and not the stick".

State how you are looking for a new challenge, more responsibility, experience and a change of environment. Do not be negative in your reasons for leaving. It is rarely appropriate to cite salary as your primary motivator.

Select an achievement that is work-related and fairly recent. Identify the skills you used in the achievement and quantify the benefit it had to the company. For example, 'my greatest achievement has been to design and implement a new sales ledger system, bringing it in ahead of time and improving our debtors' position significantly, saving the company £50,000 a month in interest'.

Be cautious with this answer. Do not be too specific as you may draw attention to weaknesses that will leave you open to further problems. One approach is to choose a characteristic of your present company, such as its size or slow decision-making processes etc. Give your answer with the air of someone who takes problems and frustrations in your stride as part of the job.

This is another question which will typically be asked in interviews for junior jobs in banking - especially at MBA entry-level.

The correct answer here is to emphasize that your interest is in financing and balance sheets, not in operational strategy. "If you're interested in operational strategy, go to McKinsey. If you're interested in financing, go to Goldman,".

This question is really about your self-esteem, confidence and career aspirations. The answer must be 'yes', followed by a brief explanation as to what it is about your career so far that's made you happy. If you have hit a career plateau, or you feel you are moving too slowly, then you must qualify your answer.

In the context of today's world, interviewers will ask entry-level bankers why they don't want to be medics or engineers," "People will say things like, 'I want the intellectual challenge,' and then you'll point out that you can get intellectual challenge from other industries too. It's about getting to the bottom of their motivation.

We ask this question for a few reasons--to see how the candidate engages, quickly thinks on his or her feet and fits into our overall company culture based on the answer. Even if the joke doesn't make any sense, it's about the presentation and ability to adapt to a curve ball that we're looking for. A silly question, such as asking candidates what fruit or vegetable they would be and why or what kind of animal they would be and why can help us find superior candidates that best fit our culture.