5 Interview Questions for Your First Customer Education Leader
A company’s first customer education leader is often challenging to hire, and not due to lack of qualified candidates. With so many different job titles and experiences on the market today, it can be difficult as a hiring manager to narrow in what you’re really needing. Should you look for a program manager? An education specialist? An instructional designer?
Your first hire is incredibly important, as they will set the direction and tone of this long-term initiative. With that in mind, this individual should be a strategic thinker with domain expertise who’s able to both do the work directly and effectively lead others. They understand the nuances of adult education and education-at-scale and demonstrate keen business acumen. But how do you interview such a candidate if you lack this unique experience yourself?
We’ve got you covered! Here are 5 questions for you to add to your interview arsenal, each noting the relevant skills assessed, the green flags to look for in the candidate’s answer, and red flags that may indicate they aren’t fully qualified.
1. What does your first 30 days look like when you’re brought on to launch a new customer education program?
Skills this question assesses: strategic thinking, program development, collaboration; problem solving
Green flags: The candidate mentions asking a lot of questions, learning about the business problems, researching the audience and other stakeholders, interviewing, gathering data, and so on. This shows they understand that education is a long-term strategic initiative, and that it’s important to thoroughly assess the business before jumping into planning.
Red flags: If the candidate mentions solutioning (or jumping into any specific content development) within those first 30 days, it could indicate they aren’t considering the big picture and lack strategic thinking.
2. How would you define a successful customer education program?
Skills this question assesses: data-driven thinking, strategic thinking, program management, business acumen
Green flags: The candidate connects the success of the program to the business problem or opportunity that it’s targeting. For example, a certification program is successful if it was intended to drive advocacy, and there’s a clear measurement that it’s doing so (via organic social shares, for example). This answer shows the candidate is thinking beyond simple engagement metrics or KPIs that aren’t tied to the original goal.
Red flags: The candidate lists standard KPIs without asking more about the original goals of the program. This indicates they aren’t connecting the dots between what to measure and the business impact.
3. How have you scaled a customer education program in the past?
Skills this question assesses: curriculum development, strategic thinking, problem solving
Green flags: The candidate has experience building a modular curriculum that has considered multiple learner segments and goals. This answer indicates that they build for efficiency and think about long-term growth. They should also have leveraged technology to deliver asynchronous learning experiences (such as via a learning management system). Bonus points if the candidate has experience with localization (beyond just language translations).
Red flags: If the candidate equates scale with volume (such as by mentioning the number of courses launched) or if sharing recorded ILTs (instructor-led trainings) has been their only solution to scale, then they may lack the proper experience to build an efficient and impactful online learning platform.
4. How have you incorporated adult learning theory into your programs?
Skills this question assesses: domain expertise
Green flags: The candidate should be familiar with the basics of adult learning theory and discuss tactics like appealing to intrinsic motivation, considering learners’ prior experience, allowing for self-directed learning. This shows the candidate has the proper domain knowledge and experience applying it.
Red flags: If the candidate isn’t aware of adult learning theory or doesn’t have experience applying it, they may not be well-suited to build the company’s first customer education initiative.
5. How have you set up the instructional designers on your team for success?
Skills this question assesses: domain expertise, curriculum development, strategic leadership, collaboration, management
Green flags: Ideally, the candidate has aligned the team around the program strategy and curriculum. They’ve also provided clear expectations for outcomes and empowered the IDs to develop content that targets business goals.
Red flags: If the candidate has no experience providing the high-level curricular outcomes and has relied on IDs to do so, they may miss the bigger picture and end up with siloed learning paths and disparate content. It’s important for your customer education leader to have experience developing educational outcomes so IDs can focus on developing the specific learning experiences that support them.
These five questions can help any hiring manager home in on some of the unique skillset necessary to build, launch, and grow and scaleable customer education program. Of course, each green/red light stated above should be used as a guiding reference with room for individual interpretation. Nothing is ever absolute. But ultimately, you want to be sure you’re setting up both your business and the new hire for long-term success.
Need more help?
Here at Echtus we help businesses install and grow successful customer and partner education programs through consulting, fractional talent, full-service, and team upskilling. Reach out to see if we’re a fit for helping you!