If you find interviewing media executives daunting, you are not alone. The pressure is on to make the right hire and drive growth. If you want to get it right, start with an executive recruiter’s most valuable tool: a media interview scorecard. 

Talent acquisition is a challenge for every organization, with interviews being one of the biggest obstacles.  

“People are biased, emotional, and inconsistent when interviewing and as a result, decades of industrial psychology research has found, the validity or predictive power of a typical unstructured job interview is around 20%, meaning that only one in five interviews increases the baseline odds that a hired candidate will be successful,” Ben Dattner wrote in the Harvard Business Review.  

What is a Media Interview Scorecard?

An interview scorecard is a powerful tool for hiring teams to assess job candidates during interviews.  

We like this definition from Built In, “[scorecards] are standardized evaluations by which interviewers assess and compare multiple candidates on an established rating system.” 

These tools serve as an organized way to systematically compare and evaluate each of the prospective hires. The scorecard typically asks the hiring team to assign a numerical value or rating with regards to each candidate’s overall qualifications, attitude, and previous work experience.  

The major benefit is that the media interview scorecard allows hiring teams to differentiate more easily between their final choices and make an informed decision on which candidate to bring onboard.  

By using an interview scorecard, the hiring team can decrease bias and make objective hiring decisions. A numerical system simplifies the process. At the end of the interviewing process, the hiring team has a concrete assessment of candidates.  

How to Create a Media Interview Scorecard

One of the most critical steps in building an interview score card is customizing the scorecard to the job. Every interviewer should participate in identifying the criteria.  

All stakeholders should meet and decide what hard and soft skills are critical to the role and how they should be judged. Then, the hiring team can decide who is responsible for evaluating different areas of the scorecard.  

We created a complete guide to building an interview scorecard. Read it here.  

Hard Skills to Assess in a Media Executive Interview

It’s important to consider both hard and soft skills when thinking about which media executives are best for your business or brand. When creating a media interview scorecard, it’s helpful to identify the most important hard skills you need to measure. When building the scorecard, we recommend a split of approximately 60% hard and 40% soft skills.   

This is a sample of some hard skills we suggest evaluating during the interview:  

• Brand Media – Traditional media channel knowledge (Broadcast, Radio, etc.)  
• Performance Media – Performance marketing, direct response, digital media expertise 
• Media Mix Modeling – Complex media mix modeling across traditional and digital media 
• Data & Technology – Analytical (Measurement/KPI), Attribution, Data strategy (DSP/DMP) 
• Vendor Relationships – Building strong rapport and trust with external partners 

Soft Skills to Assess in a Media Executive Interview

Soft skills are more subjective and sometimes more difficult to assess because intangible qualities do not have an obvious job requirement or metric. That said, soft skills are nothing to underestimate; they account for a significant portion of an employee’s comfort level and effectiveness when interacting with clients, colleagues, and various stakeholders alike. 

Observable indicators such as body language, engagement in conversation, and listening response can provide clues into how someone may perform under certain conditions or tasks. Additionally, soliciting feedback from references can be beneficial in pinpointing strengths and areas of improvement.  

Bonus: Job Responsibilities of a Media Executive

Having an effective media executive job description is essential for attracting the right talent. 

When crafting your media executive job description, include a strong overview of what you’re looking for in the role, the required experience and qualifications, the expected responsibilities, and detail how performance will be evaluated.

Make sure that all information is written in an engaging and approachable tone so potential applicants get an accurate feel for how their expertise would benefit the company.   

Having a media executive job description that’s appealing and clearly delineated can go a long way towards finding just the right person for this important role. 

This is a sample of the job responsibilities of a media executive:  

• Conduct an audit of existing team talent — and build a best-in-class media team and collaborative media agency relationship  
• Launch performance marketing initiatives  
• Develop holistic media and investment plans aligned to business priorities and a roadmap for competitive advantage across all media touchpoints 
• Lead internal performance media planning and buying team 
• Drive direct business with well-executed plans that deliver results 
• Utilize data and technology to measure key performance and metrics 
• Manage portfolio media budget and forecasting  
• Establish and uphold media requirement standards for the enterprise 
• Manage all media agency contracts in partnership with finance team 
• Build and maintain media outlet relationships on behalf of the corporation  
• Inspire teams with energy and passion, while promoting a positive culture 

Hire the Right Media Executive

Building a media interview scorecard helps you identify the hard and soft skills you want from potential candidates. This Media Interview Scorecard Template includes both essential hard and soft skills and rating criteria for each skill so you can evaluate candidates fairly.   

Do you need help finding media talent? Contact Talentfoot, we’re a boutique agency that specializes in placing high-performing advertising, marketing, tech, and sales professionals. Our team would be happy to help you build your next all-star team.