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CMAAS Senior Associate interview questions?
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That’s an extremely common question. Tell me about your work. Also, at this point if you want to hang up on someone there are hundreds (probably thousands) of people that would gladly take your place). Even if they didn’t get a chance to look at your work, everyone right now is understaffed and overworked. So hey, maybe they didn’t look at your work but they are taking the time to talk to you now. Maybe they didn’t look at your work because they didn’t care but maybe, just maybe, they didn’t because they are grossly overworked and understaffed and on top of that trying to make time for their personal lives. Give someone a break.
Chief
There was a time when you would bring your folio and reel to the meeting and sit there while the CD looked through every piece.
That gave you a chance to talk about your work and see their reaction to the ideas they liked most. With online portfolios, there is no guarantee they have looked at or watched anything, which can be a downside too.
I personally like it when I’m asked about my work in an interview. It gives me a chance to explain the background and refocus the conversation to the pieces that are relevant to the open position.
Point is, use it to your advantage.
The chances of an interview being set up without the CD giving a thumbs up to your book are slim. So, it’s more likely that they are asking you to help them remember your work and, more importantly, connect it to you. The interview is your chance to find out what they liked and why. And it’s your chance to solidify the connection between the work and yourself. If you want to be arrogant and assume that the agency is only speaking to you and that they need to treat you as God’s gift to advertising, then two things will happen: you will first have a lot of frustrating interviews—and then you will simply have fewer interviews. To be successful, a creative needs to have talent AND perspective.
While it may have bruised your ego, get over it and yourself. These are unusual times and CDs are doing the work not just creative directing more than ever before. Rather than is this disrespectful, the question you should be asking is if the CD is so busy he can’t look at portfolios then imagine how f’n I will be as a CW or Sr CW? That’s the red flag you need to worry about. It was also a perfect opp for you to find out if the company is doing well or just hiring because they are severely understaffed ( yes those are different things and should be carefully considered). Another question you should ask yourself but seems like a fair possibility is that you weren’t vibing during that interview and are hoping someone will say to walk away. In the end, only you truly know how that interview felt. If it made you feel iffy then walk. There are plenty of others it may be a better fit for who aren’t as easily flustered or feel slighted. No judgement here other than be honest with yourself and you’ll never go wrong.
Too late. You are way too entitled. Hang up. You’ll be doing that CD an immense favor.
Man. I wish you told me this before I went through with the interview. Next time!
Easy one. If you want or need the job then don’t hang up. Otherwise hang up.
Chief
They’re asking you to talk about the work to see what your role in it was, what you’re thinking is, and take you through it the way that you would present to a client. Often times we’ve seen other people with the same work and we want to know what you say your role in it was. Sounds like you’ve got some attitude adjusting to do my friend
I just interviewed a person and asked him/her to talk about their work.
I don’t think it’s disrespectful at all.
I want to hear from you how the work was created. I wanna hear how connected you were to strategy. I wanna hear your role in the project.
The thing is: there are a lot of impostors in the industry. And we can identify impostors when they talk about the work.
Not only that, it’s an amazing way to see how the person talks about ideas, how well they tell and communicate them.
So don’t feel offended by the CD’s ask. She/He is doing her/his job.
Don’t hang up. Walk them through it.
I’ll admit, though — it’s poor form for a CD to not look through your work, regardless of how busy they are. I always make a point to look through my interviewee’s book and craft questions based on their portfolio and experience.
If it’s a really stupidly general “tell me about your portfolio“ comment, yes that’s annoying. But if he or she just wants to talk about the experience of making specific pieces of work, or what your role was on specific pieces, or talk about any interesting production challenges, that’s a different story.
Usually my CD and I look at a book - at least briefly - to determine if we want to interview a writer. Is that not typical?
To me this is entitled. You have no context for the situation and are immediately making it about yourself. The CD has likely seen dozens (if not hundreds) of portfolios. Maybe he/she/they want you to walk them through it, maybe they forgot, maybe the vetting went through someone else, or maybe they’re an asshole. Most likely, they’re over worked.
What it is, is an opportunity for you that not everyone gets. Sell yourself, talk shop, get an offer. Or don’t. But judging someone in that instance does YOU no good.
Chief
Why even interview people, amirite?
I always have creatives talk through their work, shows me how they present themselves and how they think. Sometimes I only have a chance to quickly glance so the the interview is the dedicated time to deep dive