Let’s cut to it—most marketing professionals walk into interviews with a decent CV, a general idea of their achievements, and a nervous energy that borders on hopeful. But hiring managers aren’t just listening for technical skills or how many acronyms you can drop into conversation. They’re listening for proof.
And that’s where most candidates fall short.
Whether you’re applying for a brand exec role at a boutique agency or a digital strategist post at a global firm, you’re likely to face a competency-based interview. These are the ones where you’re asked to “Tell me about a time when…” and the pressure is on to turn your experience into a tight, compelling narrative. The problem? Many candidates fumble—either rambling through irrelevant anecdotes or reciting rehearsed lines that feel just that: rehearsed.
Competency-based interviews are not just about experience—they’re about how you articulate that experience. It’s the difference between saying you “worked on a campaign” and explaining how you developed a digital funnel that lifted conversion by 18%. Same project, different impact.
Marketing Portfolios: The Secret Weapon You Might Be Misusing
In creative and digital roles, portfolios are often seen as the star of the show. But while many candidates spend hours designing slides, very few stop to consider how they present the content. Employers aren’t just reviewing aesthetic—what they want is context.
Instead of just showing the final asset, explain why you made the decisions you did. Who was the audience? What problem were you solving? How did it perform?
A beautifully designed campaign means little if it doesn’t demonstrate insight, results, and your role in the process.
Questions You Ask Also Say a Lot About You
One of the most underrated parts of an interview is the moment you’re asked, “Do you have any questions for us?” Many treat this as a polite formality. It’s not. Your questions reveal how seriously you’re considering the role—and how much you understand about the business.
Strong questions reflect curiosity, strategic thinking, and commercial awareness. Weak questions reflect… that you probably copied them from a blog post five minutes before the call.
Confidence is Built, Not Faked
Competency-based interviews favour structure and self-awareness. The candidates who tend to excel aren’t necessarily the most extroverted—they’re the ones who’ve taken time to prepare with purpose. They’ve reflected on their past work, matched their examples to the job spec, and developed frameworks for responding that feel both genuine and focused.
That preparation makes all the difference between a forgettable 45-minute chat and a memorable conversation that leads to a second stage.
This is just one of the areas we cover in our Guide to Competency-Based Interviews for Marketing & Digital Professionals, which also comes with a free CV template. 👉 Available here.
