The Most Important Traits To Hire For Across Each Marketing Function

When hiring marketing talent, it is not uncommon for hiring managers to zone in on education and experience while ignoring a number of important personality traits and soft skills required for success in certain roles. Marketing is a unique industry in the sense that, yes candidates should be qualified for each specific role, but there are a number of soft skills and talents that a candidate should possess to ultimately succeed in the position.

Here is a list of important traits to consider when hiring for specific marketing positions.

Marketing Leaders

Leadership roles rely heavily on emotional intelligence and soft skills. These skills can include awareness, vision, and integrity. Since leaders are typically responsible for the performance of a group or team it is imperative that individuals in leadership roles have strong judgement alongside the ability to inspire others to help those around them succeed.

Project Managers

Those in Project Management roles require strong organizational and time management skills as they are responsible for overseeing the completion of multiple projects at a time. These individuals should also be realistic when determining the required amount of time a project should take.

Search Advertisers

Search Advertising roles require a significant amount of intuition and caution. While an understanding of the ad platform is essential, this can be learned. Intuition to know when to cautiously try something new or give something a rest to spare the budget are skills that should be evident among search/PPC advertisers.

Full-funnel Advertisers

Full-funnel advertisers require a diverse tactical skillset. The most effective advertisers should have managed content, email, social, SEO, and other areas of marketing to gain a solid comprehension of each part of the funnel. Individuals in this role must also be empathetic, as they have to guide the whole consumer journey while understanding the emotional transitions that consumers experience along the way.

SEO Specialists

SEO Specialists require autonomy, as they must be able to effectively figure out how to do things they’ve never done before, constantly. They should also possess higher-education writing skills alongside some programming foundations, as they can be responsible for creating optimized content and making minor programming adjustments. The highest-impact SEOs transcend pure technical tactics, and support search-engine-friendly content strategy.

Content Writers

Content writers are well suited to have a post secondary education. This isn’t to say they need a writing degree. Any formal education can aid the development of strong writing skills. These individuals should also be diligent in keeping their efforts consistent across writing projects. It is also important that content writers have a strong sense of empathy paired with intuition to know how to take a project to the next level.

Designers

Designers need to have strong organization and time management skills as it can be easy for design projects to overrun. They should also have advisory skills, able to oversee and guide the design process, with attention to detail to ensure no small component is overlooked. Lastly, intuition is a strong skill in this department as the designer should be able to firmly understand the project and be able to bring it to life in the desired output.

Brand Managers

Those who work in branding should be able to immerse themselves into a brand, audience, and business sector to uncover the whole playing field. Having a strong foundation of marketing and branding principals can help an individual in this role to thrive. Branding specialists should also be methodological, following a proven and effective method as they work through projects.

Analytics Specialists

Anyone in an analytics-based role needs to be strategic. These candidates should know data strategy, past just the mechanics of setting up analytics. Analytics setup, analysis, and reporting should be set up against the realities of the business, knowing when to make processes complex and when to keep it simple.

Social Media Specialists

Individuals working in social media should be authentic—using a cookie cutter approach will not work here. Alongside this, social media requires attentiveness to detail. Whether it is to craft their own content or monitor ongoing trends, being attentive can set a strong social media marketer apart from the crowd. These candidates should have strong writing skills for crafting punchy, conversion worthy content. Lastly, anyone working in social media needs to be careful. It is not uncommon for brands to get in trouble due to an overlooked mistake or insensitive comment via social media.

Web Programmers

Web Programmers require solid problem solving skills as they are likely to run into errors along the way when writing a program. Paired with this, programmers should be patient when implementing code and determining the best way to run a task. They must also have a passion for learning, as software is constantly evolving. They must be able to stay up to date on the most relevant and recent trends.

PR Specialists

Anyone working in public relations should first and foremost have a strong, relevant and reliable network to provide mutually beneficial relationships for their clients. These individuals should also have strong written and verbal communication skills, as a large portion of their job requires communicating with others. Lastly, perseverance is an important characteristic to look out for when hiring for public relations.

Talent Managers

When hiring for talent management, recruiters should look out for individuals with integrity and a positive attitude. Individuals who show that they are committed to growing a positive culture and will consistently look out for their team and are the ideal candidates to fill these roles.

Overall, each situation is unique and each candidate brings different skills to the table. While a solid understanding of marketing processes and the specific role is imperative, each function should be filled with qualified individuals who will bring effective working strategies with them to compliment the rest of the team.

Written By:

Ilarya Ochab

Ilarya is intrigued by the science and theory behind marketing. She pairs an honours degree specializing in digital marketing with years of hands-on execution. Possessing a breadth of knowledge, her specialties are digital advertising, search engine optimization, and content writing.