Advertising Account Executive Interview Questions and Scorecard
Free advertising account executive interview questions for agencies and media sellers without HR: 6 sets, answer guides, and a scorecard. Download as DOCX.
Six question sets written for the employer side of the table: what to ask, why each question is worth asking, and what a strong answer sounds like, plus a brief exercise and a 1-to-5 scorecard. Built for agencies and media sellers without an HR department. Download as DOCX.
The first advertising account executive I ever helped a small agency hire interviewed beautifully and lasted five months. He was warm, quick, and the client loved him for a quarter. What he could not do was write a brief, and what he would not do was tell anyone when a job was going over. Both were findable in an hour, and nobody had asked.
That is the trap in this hire. The role selects for people who are good in a room, which means an unstructured conversation flatters exactly the candidates it should be filtering. The interview has to reach past the room and into the evidence: a billing figure, a budget they controlled, a brief they wrote in front of you, a pitch they lost.
At FirstHR we build for small businesses that hire without an HR department, and an agency or a small publisher is a textbook case. This page gives you 40 interviewer questions in six sets, each with a stated reason to ask it and what a strong answer sounds like, plus a brief exercise and a scorecard you can download.
TL;DR
Interview an advertising account executive across six areas: client ownership, briefing and creative, scope and budget, campaign performance, new business and behavior, and a scored close. Ask for account count, billing, and budget controlled early, run the same brief exercise with every finalist, and score seven areas from 1 to 5 with written evidence.
What You Are Actually Hiring For
An advertising account executive is hired to own the client relationship day to day and to protect the commercial shape of the account. That means briefing the work, chasing approvals, holding scope and budget, reporting on performance, and telling people early when something is going wrong. Strategy sits above them; production sits beside them.
The interview should test those four things directly, because none of them show up on a resume. Anyone can list accounts. Far fewer can name what each one billed, describe the weekly rhythm that kept it healthy, or explain the last time they charged a client for extra work instead of quietly absorbing it.
There is a fifth thing that decides whether the hire saves you time or costs it: escalation judgment. An account executive who knows which questions to answer and which to route removes work from the owner. One who escalates everything, or nothing, becomes a second job. Ask where their line sits and why.
Two Jobs Behind One Title
The same title covers two different roles, and interviewing the wrong one wastes a full round. An agency account executive services clients on work the agency produces. A media or publisher account executive sells advertising inventory against a revenue target. Decide which you are hiring before the first call.
Agency account executive
Media sales account executive
Primary job
Protect and grow existing accounts
Open new advertisers against a target
Measured on
Retention, account growth, margin
Closed revenue versus quota
Daily work
Briefs, approvals, scope, reporting
Prospecting, proposals, rate cards, pitches
Weight these sets
Client ownership, briefing, scope
New business, performance numbers, scope
Reference to call
A former account director
A former sales manager or publisher
Compensation shape
Salary with a growth or bonus element
Base plus commission on closed revenue
If your shop does both, say so in the posting and interview for both, but weight the scorecard toward the half that pays the bills. The job description templates for this role split along the same line, so the posting and the interview can be built from one decision.
The Six Question Sets
The questions below are grouped into five competencies plus a scored close. Each set targets a different failure mode, so a candidate should hold up across all of them rather than shining in the one they have rehearsed. Most applicants have prepared for the behavioral questions and nothing else.
Client Ownership
Would you hand them your best account?
Account load, weekly routine, escalation judgment, and whether they deliver bad news early. The part of the job that runs every day.
Briefing and Creative
Can they write a brief?
Translating vague client feedback into a usable brief, presenting work they did not make, and consolidating conflicting stakeholder notes.
Scope and Budget
Do they protect margin?
Approval authority, estimating, change orders, and what happens the fourth time a client asks for one small extra thing.
Performance and Numbers
Can they explain the metric?
CPM, reach, frequency, and the diagnostic order when a campaign delivers impressions but no conversions. Tests fluency, not vocabulary.
New Business and Behavior
Which version of the title?
Agency service or media sales, target versus closed, a pitch they lost, and a mistake that cost real money. Sorts the two jobs behind one title.
Scorecard and Red Flags
Score, do not guess
Seven scoring areas with space for evidence, the red flags worth marking down, and the reference checks to run before the offer.
Weight the Sets to Your Account Mix
An account executive running fifteen small retainers and one running two large clients are different hires. High account volume puts the signal in client ownership and scope discipline, because the failure mode is dropped follow-through. Fewer, larger accounts shift weight to briefing, creative collaboration, and performance reporting, because the failure mode is work that comes back wrong. If the role carries a revenue target, add the new business set and check the number against a reference. Ask at least two questions from every set you keep.
40 Questions and a Scorecard to Download
Download all six sets as a single Word document, or copy the ones you need. Every question carries a short note on why it is worth asking, and every set closes with what a strong answer sounds like plus space for notes. The final file is the scorecard.
Download All Six Question Sets and the Scorecard
Five question sets with answer guides plus a seven-area scoring rubric, red flags, and a reference checklist. All in one DOCX.
Set 1: Client Ownership and Relationship
Account load, weekly routine, escalation judgment, and whether they deliver bad news early. This is the part of the job that runs every single day, and it is where a five-month hire goes wrong.
1. How many accounts did you own day to day, and what was the total billing?
(Why ask: it converts a vague resume into a workload you can compare against
your own account list.)
2. Walk me through your standard week on your largest account.
(Why ask: a real routine has status calls, internal check-ins, and a reporting
rhythm. An invented one does not.)
3. Tell me about a client relationship you inherited in bad shape.
(Why ask: inherited accounts are the normal case in a small shop.)
4. A client emails at 6pm asking why last month’s numbers dropped. What do you
send, and when?
(Why ask: tests whether they answer with data or with reassurance.)
5. When do you answer a client yourself, and when do you bring in the owner or
the account director?
(Why ask: escalation judgment is what makes an AE cheaper than the founder.)
6. Describe the last time you told a client something they did not want to hear.
(Why ask: an AE who cannot deliver bad news early hides problems until they
are expensive.)
7. Which of your accounts grew while you had it, and what did you do to grow it?
(Why ask: separates a caretaker from someone who expands revenue.)
8. What made you leave the last agency or publisher, and what would keep you here?
(Why ask: account teams churn, and churn costs you the client relationship.)
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
Strong candidates give the account count, the billing, and the names of the
categories they worked in without being pushed. They describe a rhythm: a weekly
status document, a standing call, a monthly performance review. On bad news they
say they told the client the same day, named the new date or the new number, and
brought a proposed fix rather than an apology. On escalation, they draw a line
they can explain: money, scope, and legal risk go up, everything else they
handle. Weak answers stay at "I have great relationships" with no billing figure,
no routine, and no example of a hard conversation.
NOTES
[Record account count, billing, categories, and escalation line.]
Set 2: Briefing and Creative Collaboration
Turning vague client feedback into a usable brief, presenting work they did not make, and consolidating notes from stakeholders who disagree. The brief is the artifact that most predicts whether creative comes back usable.
Briefing and Creative Collaboration Questions
ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW: BRIEFING AND CREATIVE
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. What goes into a brief you would hand to a creative team?
(Why ask: the brief is the single artifact that most predicts whether the
work comes back usable.)
2. A client says "make it pop." What do you do with that?
(Why ask: translating vague feedback is the daily job.)
3. How do you present creative work you personally disagree with?
(Why ask: an AE who undermines the work in the room kills the sale of it.)
4. Tell me about a time creative came back off-brief. Whose fault was it, and
what did you change afterward?
(Why ask: ownership of a briefing failure is rare and highly predictive.)
5. How do you handle a client who wants to art-direct the work themselves?
(Why ask: protecting the craft without losing the client is a real skill.)
6. What is your process for consolidating feedback from four stakeholders who
disagree?
(Why ask: unconsolidated feedback is how agencies lose margin.)
7. How much do you know about production timelines and what drives them?
(Why ask: an AE who promises a shoot in a week burns the studio.)
8. Describe a piece of work you are proud of and your specific contribution.
(Why ask: forces them off the team "we" and onto what they actually did.)
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
A strong candidate names the parts of a brief without prompting: the business
objective, the audience, the single message, the deliverables and formats, the
mandatories, the budget, and how success gets measured. On "make it pop," they
ask the client what they expect a viewer to do differently, then translate that
into a brief note rather than passing the phrase along. On off-brief work, the
best answer starts with what was ambiguous in the brief they wrote. Watch for
the candidate who blames creative reflexively, and for the one who agrees with
whoever spoke last.
NOTES
[Record brief components named, and how they translate vague feedback.]
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Automate documents, training assignments, task management, and track onboarding progress in real time.
Approval authority, estimating, change orders, and what happens the fourth time a client asks for one small extra thing. Scope creep is the main way a profitable account quietly turns into a loss.
Scope, Budget, and Timeline Control Questions
ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW: SCOPE AND BUDGET
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. What was the largest budget you controlled, and what were you allowed to
approve without asking?
(Why ask: authority level tells you more than budget size.)
2. A client asks for "one small extra thing" for the fourth time this month.
What happens next?
(Why ask: scope creep is the main way agency margin disappears.)
3. Walk me through how you build an estimate or a scope of work.
(Why ask: an AE who cannot price cannot protect the business.)
4. How do you track hours or spend against what was sold?
(Why ask: someone has to notice the overrun before invoicing does.)
5. A campaign will run over budget. When do you tell the client, and how?
(Why ask: timing is the entire answer here.)
6. How do you handle a client who pays late but keeps asking for more work?
(Why ask: at a small shop the AE is often the first to see cash risk.)
7. Talk me through a scope conversation that ended in a change order.
(Why ask: charging for extra work is a learnable skill most AEs avoid.)
8. What does a healthy account look like to you in numbers?
(Why ask: strong candidates think in retention, margin, and utilization.)
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
Look for someone who treats scope as a document rather than a feeling. A strong
answer describes acknowledging the request warmly, pricing or scheduling it, and
sending a written change order before the work starts, not after. On overruns
they raise the flag while there is still room to change course, and they arrive
with two options rather than a problem. Numbers are the tell: hours sold versus
hours used, retainer versus project mix, margin per account. Weak answers absorb
every request to keep the client happy, which is how a profitable account quietly
turns into a loss.
NOTES
[Record approval authority, estimating method, and change-order example.]
Set 4: Campaign Performance and Media Numbers
Whether they can explain CPM, reach, and frequency to a client who does not know them, and whether they diagnose an underperforming campaign in a sensible order. Tests fluency, not vocabulary.
Campaign Performance and Media Numbers Questions
ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW: PERFORMANCE AND NUMBERS
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. Explain CPM, CPC, reach, and frequency as you would to a client who does not
know them.
(Why ask: an AE who cannot teach the metric cannot defend the plan.)
2. A campaign is delivering impressions but no conversions. Where do you look?
(Why ask: tests diagnostic order, not jargon.)
3. Which channels have you actually run, and what did each one cost?
(Why ask: channel claims on a resume are usually broader than the experience.)
4. How do you build a monthly performance report, and what goes on page one?
(Why ask: page one should carry the business result, not a screenshot.)
5. A client wants to judge a brand campaign on last-click attribution. What do
you say?
(Why ask: the answer reveals whether they can push back with reasoning.)
6. Tell me about a campaign that underperformed. What did you change mid-flight?
(Why ask: mid-flight optimization separates an operator from a reporter.)
7. What do you do when the numbers you have to present are bad?
(Why ask: same instinct as bad news, tested a second way.)
8. How do you work with the media planning or buying side?
(Why ask: an AE who cannot brief the media team creates rework.)
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
Strong candidates define CPM as cost per thousand impressions and immediately
translate it into what the client pays for the audience they want. On the
impressions-without-conversions question they walk down the funnel in order:
targeting and placement quality, creative and message match, then landing page
and offer, then measurement itself. Their report opens with the business outcome
and a recommendation, with channel detail behind it. Weak candidates recite
acronyms, blame the algorithm, or present a dashboard export and call it a
report.
NOTES
[Record channels actually run, budget sizes, and diagnostic order.]
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Target versus closed, a prospecting plan for your business, a pitch they lost, and a mistake that cost real money. Use this set heavily for a media sales role and lightly for a pure service role.
New Business, Pitching, and Behavioral Questions
ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW: NEW BUSINESS AND BEHAVIOR
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
QUESTIONS TO ASK
1. How much of your last role was new business versus existing accounts?
(Why ask: agency AE and media sales AE are different jobs under one title.
Ask it early so you interview the right person.)
2. If you sold media or inventory: what was your target, and what did you close?
(Why ask: the most checkable claim in the whole interview.)
3. Walk me through how you would prospect advertisers for us next month.
(Why ask: a plan against your business beats a story about a past one.)
4. Tell me about a pitch you lost. Why did you lose it?
(Why ask: candidates who have never lost a pitch have never run one.)
5. What part of a pitch do you personally own when a team presents?
(Why ask: pins down the real contribution.)
6. Describe a time you disagreed with your account director or agency owner.
(Why ask: you need someone who will tell you when you are wrong.)
7. Tell me about a mistake that cost the agency or the client money.
(Why ask: ownership under cost is the strongest character signal here.)
8. What would your first 90 days here look like?
(Why ask: a good answer is specific to your accounts, not generic.)
WHAT A STRONG ANSWER SOUNDS LIKE
Evaluate the past-experience answers with the STAR pattern: a real Situation and
Task, the specific Action they took, and a Result with a number attached. On
targets and closed revenue, the figures should be stated plainly and be
verifiable with a former manager. On a lost pitch, a strong candidate names a
specific cause (wrong room, thin strategy, priced past the budget) and what they
changed after. On a costly mistake, they say what it cost, what they told the
client, and what process changed. Vagueness about numbers, or a mistake story
where nothing was actually their fault, are the two answers to mark down.
NOTES
[Record new business share, target versus closed, and STAR quality.]
Set 6: Scorecard, Red Flags, and Reference Checklist
Seven scoring areas with space for evidence, the red flags worth marking down, and the reference questions to ask before an offer goes out. This is the asset most question lists leave out entirely.
Scorecard, Red Flags, and Reference Checklist
ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW SCORECARD
Candidate: __
Interviewer: __
Date: __
Score each area from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Write one line of evidence from
the interview next to every score. A score with no evidence is a gut feeling
New business or account growth Score: [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Evidence: __
Written communication (brief exercise) Score: [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Evidence: __
Judgment and ownership of mistakes Score: [ 1 2 3 4 5 ]
Evidence: __
RED FLAGS TO MARK DOWN
•Cannot name a billing figure, an account count, or a budget they controlled
•Blames creative, media, or the client for every failure described
•Absorbs every out-of-scope request rather than pricing it
•Recites metric acronyms but cannot explain one to a beginner
•Has never lost a pitch, missed a target, or made a costly mistake
•Talks about a current client’s confidential plans in the interview
•Cannot describe what they would do in the first 90 days here
REFERENCE CHECKS TO RUN BEFORE THE OFFER
•A former account director or agency owner, not only a peer
•Confirm account count, billing, and any revenue target and attainment
•Ask directly: would you give this person your most difficult client, and why?
•Ask what the reference had to coach them on more than once
SUMMARY
Total score: ______ / 35
Recommendation: [ ] Strong yes [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Strong no
Key strengths: __
Key concerns: __
Interviewer signature: __
Note: every interviewer scores independently before the group talks, so the
loudest opinion in the room does not become the decision.
The Brief Exercise That Settles It
Give every finalist the same messy client request and thirty minutes to turn it into a brief. This single exercise separates candidates faster than any question, because writing a brief is the one skill that cannot be described convincingly by someone who has never done it.
Write the prompt yourself from a real request you have received: two rambling paragraphs, a budget mentioned in passing, a deadline that does not fit, and at least one thing the client has not decided. Ask for an objective, an audience, a single message, deliverables, the budget, and a success measure.
Judge it on three things. Did they identify what the client never answered, and ask it? Is the message one sentence or a list of five? Did they flag the deadline problem rather than agree to it? A candidate who reformats the request into headings has told you exactly how the work will come back.
Keep the Exercise Short and the Same for Everyone
Give every finalist an identical prompt and an identical time limit, so you are comparing candidates rather than the difficulty of the task. Thirty minutes is a test; a full campaign plan built over a weekend is free client work, and the strongest candidates decline it. If you want to see more, pay for it. For a media sales role, swap the brief for a live pitch against a real rate card and a plausible advertiser, using the same scenario for everyone.
What to Probe For (and Red Flags)
The prepared question opens the topic; the follow-up is where the evidence appears. Push for the number, the specific action, and what changed afterward, and mark down the patterns that show a candidate is describing a job they watched rather than one they held.
Signals worth chasing
Gives account count and billing without prompting
Describes a written weekly rhythm, not a vibe
Told a client bad news the same day it appeared
Prices extra work instead of absorbing it
Numbers fluency
Explains CPM and frequency in plain language
Diagnoses down the funnel in a defined order
Opens a report with the business result
Names real channel budgets, not channel lists
Follow-ups that work
What was the number, before and after?
Who else was in the room, and what did you own?
What did you change the next time?
What would you do differently on that account today?
Red flags
Every failure is somebody else’s fault
Has never lost a pitch or missed a target
Shares a current client’s confidential plans
Cannot describe a first 90 days for your accounts
The most useful follow-up in this interview is what did that cost, or what was the number. A strong account executive reaches for figures without hesitating, because they lived inside them. A weaker one moves to adjectives, and the retreat itself is the answer.
How to Run the Interview
Structure and consistency do most of the work. Prepare the questions, ask the same core set of everyone, run one identical work sample, and score before you discuss. The sequence below fits a founder running the process alone or a small panel of two.
Step
What to do
1. Decide the job
Service or sales, then weight the question sets accordingly
2. Standardize
Same questions, same order, every candidate
3. Ask for numbers early
Account count, billing, budget controlled, target and attainment
4. Run the brief exercise
Same messy prompt, same thirty minutes, for every finalist
5. Score independently
Seven areas, 1 to 5, one line of evidence per score
6. Verify before the offer
Call a former account director, not a peer
Score immediately after each interview while the answers are still specific. If two of you interview, write your scores down before either of you speaks, then compare the evidence rather than the impressions. A structured interview is worth little if the scoring collapses into a conversation.
What an Advertising Account Executive Costs
There is no federal occupation with this exact title, so benchmark against the two classifications that contain it and say which one you are using. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the two sit far apart.
The Two Classifications That Contain the Title
Advertising and promotions managers had a median annual wage of $133,660, with the 10th percentile at $63,300 and the 25th at $91,370. Advertising sales agents had a median of $64,820, with the 10th percentile at $35,240 and the 75th at $99,990 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, May 2025).
Benchmark (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
Annual wage
How to use it
Advertising and promotions managers, 10th percentile
$63,300
A realistic floor for an agency AE with two to four years
Advertising and promotions managers, 25th percentile
$91,370
Closer to a senior agency AE in a major market
Advertising and promotions managers, median
$133,660
Pulled up by genuine managers; do not quote it for an AE
Advertising sales agents, 25th percentile
$47,020
A media sales AE early in the role, base plus commission
Advertising sales agents, median
$64,820
The middle of the media and publisher version of the title
Advertising sales agents, 75th percentile
$99,990
What a strong seller on a good plan reaches
Two cautions. The sales agent figures already include commission, so quoting the median as a base salary overstates the guarantee and understates the plan. And publish a good-faith range where pay transparency laws apply, with the commission mechanics written in numbers rather than adjectives.
Fair, Legal, and Structured Interviewing
A fair interview, a legal one, and an effective one are the same interview. Asking every candidate the same job-related questions keeps you compliant, blunts the pull of rapport, and produces better hires at once. In a role that selects for charm, that last benefit is not a side effect.
Ask about the job, not the person
Federal anti-discrimination law, enforced by the EEOC, prohibits basing a hiring decision on protected characteristics, and questions that probe them create risk even when they are asked as small talk. Keep away from age, race, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy or family plans, disability, and genetic information. Advertising interviews have their own trap, because the conversation naturally drifts to culture and lifestyle: do not ask which neighborhood they live in, whether they can keep up with a young team, where the accent is from, or how they handle client dinners with a family at home. Tie every question to running accounts and hitting a number. This is general information, not legal advice.
Ask the same core questions of everyone
A structured interview, where every candidate answers the same prepared questions and gets scored against the same rubric, predicts on-the-job performance better than a free-flowing conversation and leaves a record you can defend. It also does something specific for agency hiring: it stops a candidate with a strong portfolio-shaped personality from winning the room on charm alone. Write the questions before the first call, ask them in the same order, and note the answers as you go. The six sets on this page are built to be used exactly that way, so the comparison between two candidates is a comparison of evidence.
Keep the work sample and the notes
The brief exercise, the scorecards, and the interview notes are the file that explains your decision months later, whether you are defending a hire internally or answering a question about the process. Store them with the offer and the signed paperwork rather than in an inbox. Ask for the same work sample from every finalist, judge it against the same criteria, and pay for it if it goes beyond a short exercise into real client work. A candidate asked to produce a full campaign plan for free will notice, and the ones you most want to hire are the ones who decline.
Interview for your version of the job
The same title covers an agency account executive who services clients and a media account executive who sells inventory against a revenue target, and interviewing the wrong one wastes a full round. Decide first: is this person primarily protecting and growing accounts you already have, or opening new advertisers? For a service role, weight client ownership, briefing, and scope. For a sales role, weight new business, pipeline, and the numbers set, and check the target against a reference. Write the answer into the posting so candidates sort themselves before they reach you.
Structure Beats Rapport, Especially Here
A structured interview, where every candidate answers the same prepared questions scored against one rubric, predicts on-the-job performance more reliably than an unstructured conversation, and asking the same job-related questions of everyone also keeps you inside the EEOC rules against basing decisions on protected characteristics. Structure is both the fairer approach and the more accurate one.
One item specific to this role sits in the job rather than the interview. Your account executive is usually the last person to read the work before a client signs it off, which makes them the practical checkpoint for claim substantiation and for disclosure of material connections under the FTC endorsement guides. Ask how they have handled a claim they could not substantiate.
Keep every question tied to running accounts and hitting a number, and skip the lifestyle small talk that drifts toward age, family, or origin. Reviewing the standard list of questions employers cannot ask before the first call takes ten minutes. This is general information, not legal advice.
Interviewing Without an HR Department
At a holding company this candidate would meet four people with a recruiter collating the scorecards. At a ten-person shop the owner does all of it between client calls, which is the situation these question sets are built for. Here is how to make one founder's process as rigorous as a full hiring team's.
You are the owner, the account director, and the only interviewer
At a holding company an account executive candidate meets a recruiter, a group director, a creative lead, and a finance partner, and somebody collates the scorecards. At a ten-person shop the founder does all of it between client calls. The fix is not more interviews, it is a fixed question set and a written score. Pick the two sets that match your version of the job, ask every candidate the same questions in the same order, and fill in the scorecard before you talk to anyone about the candidate.
A charming account executive can interview far better than they work
This role selects for people who are good in a room, which is exactly why an unstructured interview misleads here more than in most hires. The counterweight is evidence: a billing figure, an account count, a budget they controlled, a target and what they closed, and a brief they wrote in front of you. Ask for numbers early, then confirm them with a former account director rather than a peer. The reference question that works is whether they would hand this person their most difficult client.
Your account executive is a compliance control point, not just a relationship
The AE is usually the last person to read the work before a client approves it, which makes them the practical checkpoint for substantiation of claims and for disclosure of material connections in endorsements and influencer content. Agencies can share responsibility with the advertiser when disclosures are missing. Ask how they have handled a claim they could not substantiate, and put review and sign-off in the job description rather than leaving it to a conversation nobody wrote down.
The interview ends and the actual hiring work begins
Once you pick someone, the job turns into a clear offer with the commission or bonus mechanics spelled out, the new hire paperwork, and a first 90 days that gets them in front of clients quickly. FirstHR handles that side for a small business: send the offer for e-signature, run onboarding as a workflow with tasks and documents, and keep the signed offer and the interview scorecards on the employee profile. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a CRM or a media buying tool, so keep those separate. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
If the role sits inside a growing account team, decide where it reports before you interview. A quick look at how an agency org chart is usually structured will tell you whether you are hiring an executive under a director or the first account person in the business.
From Interview to Onboarding
The interview is the smaller half. Once you choose someone, the work becomes a clear offer with the compensation mechanics spelled out, the new hire paperwork, and a first 90 days that puts them in front of clients quickly rather than reading decks for a month.
Fix the question set first
Decide whether you are hiring service or sales, pick the sets that match, and ask every candidate the same questions in the same order.
Run the brief exercise
Give every finalist the same messy client request and thirty minutes. It separates the candidates faster than any question does.
Score before you discuss
Each interviewer fills the seven-area rubric with written evidence, then the group compares notes rather than impressions.
Put the offer in writing
Spell out base, any commission or new business bonus, the accounts they own, and the start date, then capture acceptance by e-signature.
Ramp against a plan
Name the accounts, the introductions, and the first client meeting they run alone, with dates rather than a general first month.
Keep the file complete
Store the signed offer, the brief exercise, and the scorecards on the employee profile so the hiring record survives the hire.
Run the reference calls before the offer rather than after. A former account director is the only person who saw both the client relationship and the internal one, and a peer reference will not tell you what the candidate had to be coached on twice. The standard reference check questions work, with billing and targets added.
FirstHR connects the offer, the e-signature, the paperwork, and the onboarding workflow in one place, and keeps the signed offer letter, the brief exercise, and the interview scorecards on the employee profile, so the hiring record survives the hire. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR. For the rest of the role library, the hiring templates hub covers the adjacent seats.
If the account team is bigger than one person, the same structure applies to the seats around it. The account coordinator below and the media planner beside it both benefit from a fixed question set and a written score, and reusing one process across the team is how a small business keeps hiring consistent. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Key Takeaways
Decide first whether you are hiring an agency service account executive or a media sales one, because the same title covers two different jobs.
Ask for account count, total billing, and budget controlled in the first fifteen minutes; vagueness about numbers is the strongest red flag in this hire.
Run the same thirty-minute brief exercise with every finalist, because writing a brief cannot be faked by someone who has never done it.
Test scope discipline directly: the fourth out-of-scope request is where agency margin actually disappears.
Ask every candidate the same job-related questions and skip the lifestyle small talk that drifts toward protected characteristics.
Score seven areas from 1 to 5 with one line of written evidence each, independently, before anyone discusses the candidate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions should I ask an advertising account executive?
Ask across six areas: client ownership, briefing and creative collaboration, scope and budget control, campaign performance and media numbers, new business and behavior, and a scored close. The highest-signal questions are concrete rather than philosophical. How many accounts did you own and what was the total billing. Walk me through your standard week on your largest account. A client asks for one small extra thing for the fourth time this month, what happens next. Explain CPM and frequency as you would to a client who does not know them. Tell me about a pitch you lost and why. Each of those has a checkable answer, which is the point. Avoid open questions about strengths and weaknesses; they reward rehearsal rather than evidence.
How do I tell an agency account executive from a media sales account executive?
Ask early what share of the last role was new business versus existing accounts, because the same title covers two different jobs. An agency account executive services clients: briefs, approvals, scope, timelines, and performance reporting on work the agency produces. A media or publisher account executive sells advertising inventory against a revenue target and is measured on closed business. The interview should weight differently for each. For the service version, lean on client ownership, briefing, and scope control. For the sales version, lean on new business, prospecting plans, and target versus attainment, and verify the numbers with a former manager. Deciding which one you need before the first call saves an entire interview round.
What is a good work sample for an advertising account executive interview?
The brief exercise is the best thirty minutes in the process. Hand the candidate a deliberately messy two-paragraph client request, the kind you actually receive, and ask for a brief containing an objective, an audience, a single message, the deliverables, the budget, and how success will be measured. Weak candidates reformat the request. Strong ones ask the question the client never answered and flag what they would need before the work starts. For a media sales role, replace it with a live pitch against a real rate card and a plausible advertiser. Give every finalist the same exercise and the same time limit, and keep it short enough that it is a test rather than free client work.
What are the red flags in an advertising account executive interview?
The strongest red flag is vagueness about numbers. A candidate who cannot state an account count, a billing figure, or a budget they controlled has usually held a smaller job than the resume suggests. Next is blame: every failed campaign was creative, media, or the client. Third is the candidate who has never lost a pitch, missed a target, or made a costly mistake, which means they are either inexperienced or unwilling to be honest. Watch also for someone who absorbs every out-of-scope request to keep clients happy, since that is how a profitable account becomes a loss, and for anyone who discusses a current client’s confidential plans with you, because they will do the same about yours.
What does an advertising account executive cost to hire?
There is no Bureau of Labor Statistics occupation with that exact title, so benchmark against the two classifications that contain it. In the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), advertising and promotions managers had a median annual wage of $133,660 with a 10th percentile of $63,300, and advertising sales agents had a median of $64,820 with a 75th percentile of $99,990. The agency version of the title usually sits near the bottom quartile of the manager classification, because the median there is pulled up by genuine advertising managers. The media sales version sits inside the sales agent range, where the figures already include commission. Budget on-target earnings rather than base alone, and settle the commission mechanics before the offer goes out.
How many interview rounds does an account executive hire need?
Two rounds plus a work sample is usually right for a small agency or publisher. Round one is a focused 45 to 60 minute structured interview covering the two or three question sets that match your version of the job, with the same questions for every candidate. The brief exercise or live pitch sits between the rounds. Round two is shorter and pointed: the gaps from the first scorecard, a meeting with whoever they will work next to on creative or media, and the practical conversation about accounts and compensation. Run reference checks before the offer, not after, and speak to a former account director rather than a peer.
What questions are illegal to ask in an advertising account executive interview?
Avoid anything that probes a characteristic protected under federal law, which the EEOC enforces: age, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy or family plans, disability, and genetic information. In an advertising interview the risk usually arrives through small talk about lifestyle and culture fit, so keep away from questions about neighborhood, family arrangements, accent or origin, health, and whether someone can keep up with a young team. You may ask whether a candidate can perform the essential functions of the job, whether they can meet a travel or client-entertainment requirement, and whether they are legally authorized to work. Asking every candidate the same job-related questions is the simplest protection. This is general information, not legal advice.
Should a small agency use an interview scorecard?
Yes, and it matters more at a small agency than at a large one, because there are fewer interviewers to balance each other out. A scorecard rates each competency from 1 to 5 with a line of written evidence next to every score, which forces the interviewer to point at something the candidate actually said. Fill it in immediately after the interview while the answers are fresh, and if more than one person interviews, have each of them score independently before anyone discusses the candidate. That single habit stops the most senior voice in the room from anchoring the decision. The scorecard on this page includes seven scoring areas, a red flag list, and the reference checks to run before an offer.
