One goal of the fair employment law is to get employers to judge job applicants based on their skills, not on whether they belong to a certain group. Under section 111. 322(2) of the Wisconsin Statutes it is unlawful:
For instance, an employer might ask a job applicant, “What nationality are you?” This question suggests that the applicant’s nationality will be taken into account when the job is decided. Even if the employer does not intend to discriminate against the applicant, asking the question may create problems.
This page deals primarily with avoiding discriminatory interview questions. They should also look over their whole hiring, recruiting, and promotion processes to make sure they are fair.
Interviewing at Burson Cohn & Wolfe? You’ve come to the right place In this article, we’ll provide an overview of Burson Cohn & Wolfe and their hiring process, list the most common interview questions you can expect, and provide tips and sample answers to help you ace your interview
About Burson Cohn & Wolfe
Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) is one of the world’s largest global communications and public relations agencies. Headquartered in New York City, they have over 4,000 employees across 60 offices in all major markets. BCW works with many high-profile clients including Google, Johnson & Johnson, and eBay.
BCW was formed in 2018 from the merger of Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe, two industry-leading PR firms with decades of experience. They offer services across the full spectrum of earned media, digital/social media, and integrated communications. Their broad expertise allows them to solve complex communications challenges for clients across all industries.
The Burson Cohn & Wolfe Hiring Process
The hiring process at BCW typically consists of:
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Initial Screening Call A phone call with an HR rep to evaluate your skills and experience
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Written Test Assesses your writing, editing, and problem-solving abilities.
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1-3 Interviews: With managers, team members, and senior leadership. Questions focus on your qualifications, communication style, strategic thinking, and cultural fit.
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Reference Checks
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Offer: Congrats! For senior roles, offers can include salary negotiations.
The interview process aims to gauge both your hard and soft skills. BCW seeks creative yet strategic thinkers who can manage complex client accounts. They want team players with exceptional communication abilities.
Now let’s look at the most frequently asked interview questions and how to succeed in answering them.
Top 25 Burson Cohn & Wolfe Interview Questions
Here are the top 25 most common questions asked in BCW interviews with tips and sample responses:
1. Why do you want to work at Burson Cohn & Wolfe?
This question gauges your interest in the company. Research BCW and highlight aspects that excite you, like their global presence, diverse clients, company culture, or growth opportunities. Show enthusiasm for their work.
Sample Response: I’m interested in BCW because of your stellar reputation for spearheading integrated communications campaigns worldwide. Your expansive global footprint and diverse clientele provide opportunities to collaborate with experts across disciplines. Your “Greater Than” company culture also resonates with me – empowering employees to push boundaries aligns with my continuous growth mindset. I’m excited by the prospect of working with talented colleagues to solve complex challenges for globally recognized brands.
2. What relevant skills and experience do you bring to this role?
This is your chance to match your background to the role’s requirements. Reference the job description and provide specific examples that showcase your abilities.
Sample Response: Through my 5 years of experience in corporate communications, I’ve built expertise in developing strategic PR plans, managing media relations, and measuring campaign impact – key skills needed for this position. For example, in my current role at XYZ agency, I led the launch of an integrated communications campaign that resulted in a 20% increase in positive brand mentions. I’m confident my background in strategic planning, writing, media relations, and analytics will enable me to deliver value in this account executive role.
3. Why do you want to work in Public Relations?
Share your motivation for pursuing a PR career. Convey your passion for communications and interest in helping brands manage reputations and connect with audiences.
Sample Response: I’m passionate about public relations because I love finding the story within the data and using strategic communications to shape brand narratives. PR allows me to flex my creative muscles while also leveraging analytical skills to extract insights. Whether it’s crafting the perfect pitch or developing a multi-channel campaign, I thrive on connecting brands with their audiences in meaningful ways. Helping organizations strengthen their reputations through proactive communications is extremely rewarding.
4. How do you prioritize tasks when managing multiple clients?
Demonstrate your ability to juggle and prioritize tasks efficiently even whenworkload is high.
Sample Response: When managing competing priorities across multiple clients, I use tools like workload matrices to map out deliverables and deadlines. This provides an overview of upcoming milestones so I can plan ahead. I also maintain open communication with clients and team members to ensure we’re aligned on timelines and expectations. Ultimately, I triage tasks based on factors like urgency, business impact, and effort required. This disciplined yet flexible approach has enabled me to successfully manage high workloads throughout my career.
5. How would you handle an unhappy client?
Show that you can deal with difficult situations professionally and work to resolve issues.
Sample Response: When facing an unhappy client, I would first seek to understand their concerns empathetically through active listening. I’d ask probing questions to get specifics on their dissatisfaction and if they have any suggestions for rectifying the situation. Next, I would analyze how things went awry and take accountability for my team’s role. Finally, I would develop solutions tailored to the client’s needs, whether that involves revising campaign strategies or improving communication moving forward. Maintaining trust is priority one. With this approach focused on transparency and partnership, I’m confident any issues could be resolved to the client’s satisfaction.
6. Tell me about a successful branding campaign you worked on. What results did it achieve?
Discuss a specific project showcasing your skills and ability to drive strategic results. Quantify your impact with metrics.
Sample Response: One successful campaign was developing the brand platform for XYZ Company’s entrance into the UK market. I led research and analysis to create consumer personas and identify perceptions, motivators, and barriers to purchase within each segment. Leveraging these insights, I crafted a differentiated brand strategy and messaging focused on quality and transparency. The campaign exceeded goals by achieving 75% brand awareness in Year 1 and 50% growth in UK sales versus projections. This example shows my ability to employ research, segmentation, messaging, and measurement to build brand equity and achieve business objectives.
7. How do you use data and analytics in your communications planning?
Articulate how you incorporate data to inform strategy and measure impact. Share examples.
Sample Response: Data and analytics are core to my strategic planning process. For example, when developing a recent social media campaign, I leveraged demographics data and listening tools to identify the target audience, their interests and influencers. During execution, I analyzed engagement metrics and sentiment to optimize content and outreach. Post-campaign I measured impressions, community growth, lead generation and sales impact. This data-driven approach enabled me to create an audience-focused campaign and clearly demonstrate ROI. My analytics skills allow me to extract key insights, track progress, and quantify communications efforts.
8. How do you stay current on PR trends and industry news?
Show your dedication to continuously learning and improving your expertise.
Sample Response: Staying current on industry news and trends is crucial to being an effective PR pro. I subscribe to leading publications like PRWeek and PR Daily to get news delivered to my inbox. I also follow key thought leaders and influencers on social channels. Attending conferences and webinars allows me to network with peers and learn from experts. Within my company, I participate in knowledge-sharing groups. With this multi-pronged approach, I’m able to stay on top of emerging technologies, innovations, and best practices that enable me to bring fresh perspective to clients.
9. What would you do if a teammate wasn’t pulling their weight on a project?
Demonstrate your conflict management and leadership skills. Show you can address issues professionally while maintaining team cohesion.
Sample Response: If a team member wasn’t pulling their weight, I would first have a one-on-one conversation focused on constructive feedback, not criticism. I’d seek to understand if there are any roadblocks or support they need from me as the team lead. If it’s a matter of different work styles, I would adjust my management approach to empower them further. However, if the issue persists, I would involve management while reaffirming my desire to resolve this cooperatively for the good of the project. Maintaining honest, compassionate dialogue and holding everyone accountable is key.
10. Where do you see your PR career in 5 years?
Share your vision for professional growth and how this role aligns with your goals. Demonstrate your commitment to expanding your skills and experience.
Sample Response: In 5 years, my goal is to be leading integrated PR campaigns for enterprise-level clients. This role is an excellent stepping stone, as it will allow me to expand my expertise across earned, owned, and paid channels. Building these robust, cross-disciplinary skills will enable me to take on more responsibility and provide added value to clients. With my passion for lifelong learning, collaborative spirit and drive to achieve results, I’m confident I can progress to a senior leadership position enabling strategic impact.
11. How do you stay motivated when faced with tight deadlines and high-pressure projects?
Prove you thrive under pressure and see challenges as opportunities to grow. Share tactics you use for self-motivation.
Sample Response: PR inevitably involves tight dea
Are you proficient in English?
A certain level of English skills may be needed for many jobs, but for a lot of them, fluency or not having an accent doesn’t matter. When employers say that someone needs to be able to speak and write English well, they need to be careful that the level of language skills they are looking for doesn’t go above what is needed to do the job well.
Questions to Avoid During the Hiring Process
To figure out what kinds of questions might be illegal, you should only ask ones that will tell you about the person’s ability to do the job, with or without a reasonable accommodation. Remember that if it’s against the law to ask the applicant a question directly, it’s also against the law to ask the same question as part of the pre-offer reference checks.
