/ Blog / Finding and Keeping Data-Oriented Marketers
When I was head of the marketing team at Dover Saddlery, one of my biggest problems was finding data-oriented marketers to grow the ecommerce, database, and creative teams. Because data-driven marketing is not commonly practiced, relying upon a candidate's past experience at other companies was hit or miss. For that reason, it has been my experience that the most important step to hiring the right person is to develop an understanding of the candidate's capacity to learn the types of data-connection skills required to do the job well. Technology is changing so fast, and the ability to learn quickly and adapt to technological advancement is absolutely vital. To say that these qualities are rare and difficult to identify through an interview process is an understatement indeed. I didn't get this right all of the time, but along the way, I learned a few lessons about how to find and keep this type of person.
What is the perfect set of criteria for a data-driven marketer?
Whatever the specialty, data-driven marketing positions require excellent problem-solving skills, the innate ability to utilize logic to find solutions, and the ability to bring data together to answer complex questions. Of course, candidates have to be dedicated, self-motivated, and independent thinkers with a track record of the basic skills necessary to do the job. But sometimes a person can have all of those things and still lack the key ingredient needed to effectively use data to drive the marketing. I nicknamed this key ingredient "The Chip" because I have learned that your brain either has the logic hardware available to understand data-driven marketing, or it doesn't. Perhaps I am not a good teacher, but I have found that no amount of teaching will allow a person who doesn't have "The Chip" to be successful in this area. After a short time of working with a new recruit, it becomes obvious whether or not they have "The Chip"?
How do you identify "The Chip" within a person before you hire them?
The "temp army" methodology: This method works well if you have a number of entry-level, data-driven marketing positions to fill. First hire a number of applicants as "temporary-to-permanent" employees, those willing to accept a trial period to prove themselves. These applicants may be recent college graduates looking for experience or those with the confidence to "get their foot in the door" to prove themselves. Screen them for the qualities you want in your entry-level hire and only hire the ones who show you those qualities. Give them your marketing/ecommerce/creative grunt-work to fill their time, but also give each of them several projects that require an aptitude for marrying data with marketing. Provide a small amount of guidance, then see what they do. The ones with "The Chip" will ask a few questions and figure the rest out. The ones without "The Chip" might ask some questions (or perhaps not) then wander around aimlessly and practically require you to do the project for them. Retain the ones who do the project well with as little direction as possible.
The testing methodology: This method isn't as effective as the "temp-army" methodology, but if you are hiring for a position that requires more lengthy experience, you won't be able to get that level of candidate on a temporary basis. With that in mind, this is the way to go. Let's say we haves several candidates who look good on paper from a skill-level standpoint and also interview well. The team likes them, they are a good cultural fit, and the only thing left to evaluate is "The Chip"? The last hurdle for these candidates should be a brief logic test. A quick google search will turn up a number of basic ten-question tests. Give a few tests to your existing team as a fun Friday afternoon break, and see what questions are consistently solved correctly. Then use those questions to test your candidates. Hire the ones that score as well as your proven team members. I have seen this methodology work over and over.
So once you build a great team of data-driven marketers, how do you keep them? A great question for another day. If you have any questions for me directly, please email me at lcarpenter@cohereone.com
