Communications Specialist

Communications Specialist interview questions

Your high-potential new hire will have awesome communication and copywriting skills and will be as comfortable with digital channels as they are with PR campaign strategies. They’ll also be super organized and reliable problem-solvers.

Top tips: 

• Look for quality over qualifications: The level of experience or qualifications you need will depend on the role. Talent and potential can win over experience, so look out for high-potential industry newbies.
• Set an assignment: Ask candidates to produce a piece of content or edit a mock press release to test their writing and comms skills. 
• Grow together: Hire candidates you can grow with by making sure their personal career goals align with your company's mission.

Role-specific interview questions

• What drew you to apply for this role?
• How has your background prepared you for this role?
• What are your favorite media outlets and why?
• What’s your event coordination experience?
• What are elements of interactive public relations?
• How would you use social media for corporate comms?
• What do you know about our PR efforts? Would you change anything?
• How is content important for comms?
• What should you think about when you plan a press conference?

Behavioral interview questions

• Describe a time you successfully delivered the company message to a target audience. Why was it so successful?
• Describe a time you successfully diffused a difficult situation.
• Have you ever dealt with a challenging PR problem? What happened?
• Has a campaign you worked on ever failed? What would you do differently?
• Describe a time you dealt with a difficult external stakeholder. What happened?

Problem solving interview questions

• What would your main focus be in week one of working with us?
• What’s the most challenging thing about responding to reporter inquiries?
• How would you resolve a disagreement with a PR manager on a campaign?
• How would you diffuse a conflict between a senior executive and an external party during an event?