Jami posed an interesting question via comment to my post on sharpening interview skills. The question was about what interviewers are looking for when they ask “are you detail oriented.”
That one is not a soft ball; it is a very important question they want you to answer.
Why?
Two reasons.
First, execution is a critical success factor in any marketing organization.
Second, they need people who can handle the details.
Today, execution is more important than strategy or creativity. Sure the concept needs to be right (and even brilliant), but the best ideas that the supervisors have will fail if they do not have very strong executional people behind them. People hiring talent directly out of college need assurance that no matter how smart the talent is that they can execute.
If you cannot convince the employer you can pull this part off while you learn and immerse yourself in the business, it will be harder to cost-justify hiring you.
Execution requires a solid understanding of process … what are all the steps needed to make an idea valuable to a customer and how will all these steps get done on time and with minimal resources. Talk about your successes in managing complex class projects or things you have done for extracurricular activities or intern jobs. Show them the confidence you have in flow charting a complex series of tasks and getting them done on time.
