This document provides a framework for hiring managers to evaluate social media specialist candidates beyond interviews. It covers defining role scope, reading portfolios critically, identifying performance signals, running paid exercises, asking about failures, pricing the role, considering nearshore talent, and using scorecards.
This document is a hiring guide for managers looking to evaluate social media specialist candidates. It argues that traditional interviews are poor predictors of on-the-job performance and proposes a structured evaluation process based on role-specific exercises and scoring criteria.
The guide begins by emphasizing the need to define the role scope before evaluating candidates. It advises writing down the two or three key outcomes the hire is responsible for and building the evaluation process around those outcomes, rather than generic social media metrics.
It then covers how to read a portfolio critically, noting that growth on one account is not transferable proof. The guide recommends looking for work that resembles the hiring company's situation and asking candidates what they would change about their past work to understand their judgment.
The document lists four signals that predict performance: explaining why something worked, distinguishing performance from luck, writing in the platform's register, and handling public complaints constructively. It notes these are not software skills but judgment-based abilities.
The guide recommends running one small paid exercise with a realistic brief containing a deliberate gap, such as missing tone guidance or an unrealistic timeline. It suggests paying for the time and observing whether the candidate asks about the audience, flags issues, and responds to feedback.
Finally, it covers asking about a failed campaign, pricing the role based on scope, considering nearshore talent from Latin America for U.S. companies, and using a scorecard with four or five criteria tied to defined outcomes to evaluate candidates consistently.