Hiring for Creative Marketing Roles: Interview Trends, Top Resume Mistakes

Marketing and advertising executives say they review 23 resumes on average for every open creative position,according to a recent report from The Creative Group.

Employers say that after reviewing resumes, they then meet with six applicants, on average, before filling an open role.

Candidates are interviewed, on average, by three people for non-managerial positions, and by four people for management-level positions.

The report was based on data from 400 telephone interviews with marketing and advertising executives in the United States—200 from companies with 100 or more employees, and 200 from ad agencies with 20 or more employees.

Below, additional key findings from the report.

Resume Mistakes

• 39% of executives surveyed say the most common resume mistake made by job candidates is including irrelevant information.
• 18% say including inaccurate information is the most common slip-up; 11% say typos/grammatical errors are the most common mistakes.

Interview Types

• 86% of executives say they prefer to conduct one-on-one interviews.
• 8% say group/panel interviews are the most revealing.
• 4% of respondents say grabbing lunch/food with a candidate is the most effective interview method.

About the research: The report was based on data from 400 telephone interviews with marketing and advertising executives in the United States—200 from companies with 100 or more employees, and 200 from ad agencies with 20 or more employees.