First interview in 5 years after maternity help

[nuggles]

Before taking 3 years off to have 2 DC I worked as a freelancer in marketing for 2 years.

Later this week I have my first big interview with a huge company for a senior marketing role.

First interview in over 5 years. Wasn’t nervous at all until last week when I was told there will be two tasks for me to do in the interview.

Starting to panic a bit as the industry has moved on so much in the past few years. Gosh last time I had to do on the spot tasks in an interview was well over 10 years ago.

Any advice on prep? Eeek

I got a job last week after 2 years out with dd.
I had some great advice-
If they are interviewing you, you already have skills/ qualifications/ attributes they are looking for. They want you.
Everyone has a task. Head down, get on, tackle it.
Talk out loud about your experiences/ interview practice. The pathways for spoken language/ thoughts are different- practice using the out loud ones!!
I didn’t get a position about a month ago- I was terrible, and gutted. However, this job is better, and the previous interview was valuable experience.

Good luck!!

That’s some great advice, thank you!

Yes confidence and knowledge will work wonders.

Congratulations on your job!

I interview candidates often for clients recruiting into this role. Usually we are looking for stock responses to questions such as strategy is always the first step, then we might request that they develop a pen portrait/persona for a segment of the target market. Possibly a quick SWOT analysis which means do your homework on the company well beforehand. Even draft a SWOT analysis based on what you know about them and their marketplace. Social Media is the biggest opportunity for most businesses so think about, tone of voice, messaging and how you get engagement. All of the above will equip you for your interview. Good luck x

That’s a great help, thank you. Think I’ll spend today analysing their products and marketing.

Fab tip about the SWOT analysis - haven’t done one of those in about 10 years!

Thanks both for your helpful tips x

nuggles good advice on here . I am just waiting to hear about a job for which I went through a three step process . First formal job application in many many years as stayed with previous employer a looong time.

Thoughts from my experience - none of my preparation was wasted so do put as much time in as you can.
You may have all the normal interview stuff covered but anyway .... here goes
For me because it had been a while since I did the exact role I applied for I built a bank of stories I could use to answer questions like what are you proud of / what have you found challenging etc - this helped hugely as I felt a bit vague in the first round.
The questions you ask them can be as powerful as those they ask you - I asked something about SEO and website and it opened up a really good discussion .
I also prepared three slides and took as a printed handout which was a summary of what I knew about them , with some thoughts and questions about how I felt I could help them - I think this went down well and gave me confidence - I gave them a copy but you wouldn't have to.
Also good to remember they won't want to waste time on unsuitable candidates so the activities should enable you to showcase your skills not be designed to trip you up !
Good luck

Good point on preparing a few key answers, thanks thedayismine

Working on my prep today as my interview is in the morning. Love your idea of a few slides on what you know of their brand, how you can help etc.

Good luck to you too!

Hope tomorrow goes well! It’s so hard to feel like you are out of the game trying to get in.
Find your confidence.

Absolutely, totally how I feel too. Thanks for the good luck.

Yes confidence!

Any news on the interview?!!

Interview was very bizarre.

No questions asked on my career history, why I applied for the role etc. Literally as soon as I walked in I was given a task to absorb a creative brief and plan out how I would tackle it. The conversation was just about the marketing around it.

Was slightly bizarre but good practice and given me more confidence for applying for more roles now.

Fingers crossed! When do you find out if you got it?

No idea! I was hoping this week so I might drop them an email tomorrow 🤞🏼