Account Managers, Use These 11 Questions to Prep for Your Next Job Interview

As an account manager, you have to impress clients on a daily basis. But before you can start solving client issues or hitting your revenue targets, you have to impress the hiring manager at the company of your dreams.

Whether you’re entering the field with no experience or you’ve been an account manager for years, prepping for the interview ahead of time can help increase your chances of receiving an offer. You’ll definitely get a few basic interview questions. But you should also be ready for plenty of questions specific to the account manager role, from role-playing how you’ll upsell a client to walking through how you use a CRM to stay organized.

What Companies Are Looking for in Account Managers

When you’re interviewing for an account manager role, it’s important to understand that not all account management jobs are the same. From company to company, the responsibilities, role, and title can vary greatly. Typically, an account manager is responsible for fostering new client relationships and keeping existing clients happy. In this role, you’ll generate revenue and upsell clients. Account managers generate sales reports, revenue reports, and more for their managers. If you have a background in sales, this role will feel similar, but the relationships you’re building with clients tend to be longer term.

At some companies like Leighton Interactive, which creates websites and digital marketing campaigns for clients, account managers are at the center of it all. There, in addition to upselling clients, generating revenue, and retaining revenue, account managers play a very strategic role in helping clients, almost like a business consultant, according to the company’s Vice President, Jennifer Lawrence. Meanwhile, when I hired account managers who handled nonprofit clients advocating for controversial issues, candidates had to be prepared to help manage brand perception and be proactive about any issues that might affect the clients’ reputations.

But regardless of the specifics of the role at a given company, hiring managers are often looking for a lot of the same qualities.

Lawrence started as an account manager at Leighton Interactive eight years ago. Now, she’s the first person to interview prospective account managers, and her company is always looking for candidates who are confident and emotionally intelligent and who can read a room.

Matthew Fromm, Senior Sales Recruiter at Palo Alto Networks, oversees account manager hiring at the company. He’s looking for candidates who are willing to challenge themselves and are hungry to become better. (Disclosure: Palo Alto Networks is a client of The Muse.)

“It’s someone who actively seeks opportunities to expand their knowledge and skill set and grow professionally. It means having a CEO mentality that prompts ownership,” Fromm says.

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