I endured a long interview process at Pearson. Things began with a 15-minute phone interview with the district manager, who asked me to come meet with him in person the following day. In that second interview, we walked through my resume and I shared more about my work experience and background with him. He pressed me on why I wanted to go into sales, which I hadn't been involved in before.
That night, the manager emailed me to ask me to meet with a VP the following day. So in round three, I met with the VP and manager together, and the interview consisted of a lot of softball questions - tell me about a time when... how would you handle... etc. Because the manager liked me, it seemed that the VP was receptive to my candidacy as well.
The next week, I was asked to meet with the current AE, and she and I got along very well. Rather than a formal interview, we met at a restaurant and had a conversation in which she gave me tips about how to do the job well and what she had learned doing it over the last decade. She told me that I was her top pick for the job and gave me a positive review.
The manager called and told me to sharpen my sales knowledge. He told me to read two books, which I did in detail, and to create plans for the way I would tackle the sales territory. Not knowing how or when this would be needed, I put in several days of intense work to prepare.
Finally, later that week, I was asked to participate in a 30-minute phone interview with HR. This was the most confusing part. I had no idea why I would need to run through my resume with HR when I'd already done so with the manager and VP. The person conducting the interview was hard to read over the phone.
After a week of not hearing back from anyone at Pearson, I was asked to attend an industry event as the probable new AE. Told I was the "lead candidate," I did so, shook a lot of hands, and smiled as wide as I could. Imagine my disappointment upon hearing that the position was filled by an internal candidate.
