For nearly 20 years, Cynopsis job listings have been a go-to source for hiring managers looking to draw the top candidates in the media industry. Rounding 3Q16, we’re seeing new jobs on the rise  and not just in media hubs New York and Los Angeles, but across Seattle, Phoenix, Chicago and Atlanta. While calls for sales, production, research and marketing positions remain strong, we’re also seeing an uptick in legal and finance jobs, and digital jobs in ad operations and programmatic are on the rise.

But managers who have posted their company’s positions, then find themselves with a raft of resumes of talented, qualified candidates, have a new challenge. Choosing just the right person for a job is no simple task, especially in a fast-changing environment like ours that demands adaptability, collaboration and commitment. How can you size up potential in just an hour or two? One of the keys is to ask the right questions in an interview. Here, hiring experts  including two winners of the inaugural Cynopsis HR Awards – share their insights.

Claire Kostbar, Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Administration, iN DEMAND
“To make a successful hire, HR needs to take on a ‘matchmaker’ role. Assuming the candidate has the skills needed for the position, the interviewer needs to ask questions to ensure a long-lasting and mutually satisfying working relationship. One favorite question I ask is, ‘Describe to me your ideal boss.’ The answer to this question always gives me insight and helps determine if the candidate is a good ‘fit’ with the boss and the entire team.”

Bruce Tulgan, founder, Rainmaker Thinking and best-selling author (It’s Okay to Be the Boss):
“My advice is always to use ‘behavioral’ interview questions.This means asking candidates to tell you stories about their actual behavior in real life experiences they’ve had. Ask candidates:‘Tell me a story about a time you faced…’ [fill in the blank] Examples: ‘Tell me a story about a time you faced conflict with a coworker and how you dealt with it.’ Or, ‘Tell me a story about a time you faced an unexpected shortage of resources to do your job and how you dealt with it,’ or ‘Tell me a story about a time you had to deal with an unhappy customer.’”

Michael Lochmondy, Senior Recruiter at Mindshare
“I find that conversations, not specific questions, are most successful in assessing a candidate. Approaching the interview in that way establishes a level of trust with the candidate, puts them at ease and enables candidates to tell their story in a way that truly gives me a sense of how they’ll function on a daily basis in their role.”

Miguel Santos, General Manager, Myx TV
“I conduct my interviews with a mix of open-ended and general questions, while letting the conversation take the lead. You can learn a lot about your potential hire when you let them speak a little freely. What I listen and watch for is where does their excitement peak? Where does their passion shine through? You can have a good employee that can do the job, but you can’t fake passion. And passion is an important part of our work-culture.”

Ian Siegel, ZipRecruiter CEO and co-founder:
“’How was your last company different form the competitors?’ This question shows whether the interviewees truly understood their previous employer’s business objectives, or if they simply followed directions without being engaged in their work. You can’t expect your candidates to immediately ascertain all the ins and outs of your business’ demands and obstacles, but you need to look for answers that demonstrate they have the capacity to think about the problems you’ve presented in a way that aligns with your company’s goals and expectations.”

Last week in midtown on a beautiful September evening Cynopsis Media had the privilege to honor our top picks amongst the media industry under the Human Resources sector.

Congratulations to winners of the 2016 Cynopsis HR Awards:

Best Diversity and Inclusion Initiative  –  NBC Entertainment High School Pipeline Programs
Best Mentor/Mentee Initiative  –  Cable Entertainment InDevelopment
Top HR Corporate Visionary (TV Network)  –  Claire Kostbar – SVP, HR and Administration, iN DEMAND
Best Corporate Perks & Soft Benefits  –  PackageSpring!
Best Training & Development Initiative  –  UpStartU
Overall HR Team Excellence Award  –  Horizon Media
Top HR Mentor (VP and Above)  –  Ricki Goldhammer – SVP HR Business Partner, Horizon Media
Top HR Corporate Visionary (Agency)  –  Damian Bazadona – Founder/President, Situation Interactive
Talent Recruiting Initiative  –  Mindshare’s Data Bytes Program
Top HR Mentor (Manager and Above)  –  Megan Blood – HR Business Partner, Hasbro
Rising Stars in HR  –  Michael Lochmondy – Sr Recruiter, Mindshare
Best Diversity and Inclusion Initiative  –  Create Your Winning Gameplan: Learn How Sports Strategies Can Advance Your Career
Top HR Corporate Visionary (Agency)  –  Tiffany Francis – SVP, Managing Director Talent, Publicis Media
Top Training & Development Specialist (Manager and above)  –  Kim Beauvais – VP, HR & Business Operations Big Ten Network

Mariana Flynn was upped to named Senior Vice President of Unscripted Development and Programming for Lifetime. She joined the network in 2013 as Vice President.

Dennis Camlek joined National Geographic Channel as Executive Vice President, Strategy and Consumer Marketing. He was previously Senior Vice President of Turner Media Group, Turner Broadcasting System Inc.

Online video analytics company Tubular Labs announced a new hire. Matt Hunter will oversee Tubular’s product team as Chief Product Officer. He most recently served a EVP of Product at app analytics company App Annie.

Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos has joined Spotify‘s board of directors. The move isn’t a bad idea for Spotify: It comes just as the streaming music service is beginning to heavily increase its video content. In addition to widely employing video ads, Spotify has recently greenlit a number of music-oriented short-form original video series, including the Tim Robbins-produced mockumentary series Ultimate/Ultimate.

Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and its global arm, International Society of Broadband Experts (ISBE), announced that Tony Werner, President, Technology and Product for Comcast Cable, has been re-elected as Chairman of the Board for the 2016-2017 term. In addition, Vice Chairman: Bill Warga, Vice President, Technology, Liberty Global; Treasurer: Christine Whitaker, Senior Vice President, Keystone Region, Comcast; and Secretary Steve Williams, Director, DOCSIS Metwork Operations, Charter Communications were re-elected to the executive committee.

Studio Ramsay, the independent production company launched by Gordon Ramsay, named Chris Brogden as Chief Creative Officer. Brogden had been Creative Director of Entertainment at Tinopolis.

The Tiger Woods Foundation hired Dave Klewan to serve as GM of the Genesis Open, which will be played Feb. 13-19 at The Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades. Previously, Klewan served as GM of the World Series of Beach Volleyball & Management Plus Enterprises.

Kirby Wadsworth joined Bayshore Networks as Chief Marketing Officer. He last served as Vice President, Global Marketing for F5 Networks, Inc.

Belinda Cherrington was appointed to the newly created role of Director of UK Factual at 360Production. Cherrington comes to the company from Warner-owned Renegade Pictures in an executive production role focused on generating specialist factual and access ideas for BBC2, Channel 4 and BBC 4.

DAVID Miami hired Jon Carlaw as Director of Strategic Planning. He had been Communications Strategy Director at W+K Portland.

True[X] co-founder David Levy was given a new title at Fox Networks Group, named Executive Vice President of Non-Linear Revenue.

AMC and SundanceTV announced a newly created international programming group. Kristin Jones, who has been with AMC since 2014 focusing on international scripted projects, was tapped as Senior Vice President, International Programming across both networks. Chris Loveall has joined as Vice President, International Programming. He had served as Vice President of Original Programming at Pivot.

Michael Shiffman was promoted to VP, content strategy, SportsCenter and News at ESPN. At the position, he will direct Planning and Bureau teams for SportsCenter and lead in coordinating the coverage of all major events that SportsCenter attends.

Viacom upped Christian Kurz to Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Insights. He was previously Senior Vice President, Research, Insights and Reporting.

Broadvoice appointed Ryan Ficken as Channel Manager. He previously held sales management positions at Ottawa University, xPlore Lawrence and ValuNet.

K2 Krupp Kommunications named Dina White as Vice President of Media Relations. White began her TV publicity career at Rainbow Media (now AMC Networks) and later formed her own consultancy, publicizing programming and special events for networks including NBC, USA Network, and Hallmark Channel.

David Brewer was upped to Senior Vice President of Program Strategy and Acquisitions, Bravo & Oxygen Media. He was previously Vice President, Strategic Program Planning.

Scott Thomas was named Vice President and General Manager for KFVS12 and WQWQ-TV.

Raycom Media’s CBS and CW affiliates in Cape Girardeau, MO. He last served as the Director of Sales for KFVS12/WQWQ.

The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) has named Christa Babcock as its new VP of Learning and Certification. Babcock has been with the IAB since 2014; in the new role, she’ll oversee the development and launch of global skill development programs and thought seminars. She’ll also oversee research and best practice recognition programs, as well as certification programs.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) recently announced the election of its 2017 Executive Board, as well as its Board of Industry Leaders (BIL), which serves the CTA and its Board in an advisory role. Among the appointments: David Hagan, the Chairman and CEO of Boingo Wireless, will serve as Chairman of the Executive Board. Mike Fasulo, the President and COO of Sony Electronics, will serve as a Vice Chair of the Executive Board, as will Randy Fry, the President of Fry’s Electronics.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Roberta Caploe: Publisher @robertacaploe
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group 

Cynopsis Ad Sales: Mike Farina | VP, Sales | 203-218-6480
Classifieds Sales: Trish Pihonak | Director of Operations | 203-899-8459

Copyright Cynopsis 2016