CSM Interview Case Study

Alex Farmer

Hi everyone,

I'm a big fan of using case studies in interviews for CSMs - helps showcase ability to present, work under pressure, etc. 

Usually I'll ask them to present what outcomes our business could help a hypothetical customer achieve and include a more technical demo as well. 

I've got a few templates I've used in the past but wanted to crowdsource for examples from the greater #CSfam.  Any ideas or tips you can share?

Jared Orr

Hi Alex,

When I was interviewing for the company I currently work at, they gave me three mock companies. I had to study each company and their products. During one of the interviews, the interviewer acted as the client and expressed some specific issues she was having. I had to address her concerns as if I was the CSM for this mock company. We did three different role plays. All with her being someone from each company with different issues and me as the CSM. 

Each role-play was back to back so I didn't have much time to think in between. It was a little intense but obviously, it worked out in the end.

David Mangham

Alex,

I love the idea of case studies and other types of presentations.  I used to do a simulated CSM scenario as part of the hiring process.  2 days before I had them come in, I sent the business cases which dealt with the company missing some key commitments which impacted the onboarding project.  This was great at seeing how people came up with solutions, presentation skills and how they work under short timeframes. 

Recently I switched to having the candidates present on the topic of their choice.  This was great in that not only did it help me and my team see how they organized material and the strength of their presentation skills, we would also look to see what type of passion they would bring to their presentation and gain some insight to things that are important to them outside of work in some cases.  In both of these situations they presented to members of the CSM team.  We would have them present for 15 min and then do a 15 to 20 min Q&A on their presentation.  The key evaluation criteria always included did you learn something new.  I feel that the ability to teach and provide value is critical for any CSM on my team.   This has worked well for me and has lead to some great hires.  If you try the Topic of choice route would love to hear what you thought of the approach.  David

Kristal Penner

David, 
Hate to make you think back to a post from so long ago, but I'm curious - do you typically give them parameters or ideas, or is it truly whatever they want and the only parameter is 15 minutes?

Thanks!