Salesforce.com Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details The initial meeting was very informal. Just a general chat about life, family, career successes and aspirations. Overall a very relaxed and positive start to the process.

Following this, I was then invited to present to a 'panel' at the UK HQ in Staines. I was given a standard corporate slide deck and told to go and prepare a 45 minute presentation.

On the day, I arrived at reception 5 minutes early, and was met by a flustered recruitment manager who wasn't expecting me for another hour. A check of both our calendars revealed he was mistaken and I was actually on time.

The panel I was intended to present to, and who I had researched extensively, was not in the office (nothing to do with the 1 hour time difference - they were not in at all that day). So the recruitment manager hastily rounded up three unwilling participants from the office to serve as my panel. Needless to say, a little disconcerting after I had poured a huge amount of effort into preparing for the presentation.

Undeterred, I ploughed through and did my best to remain passionate and enthusiastic, even though the audience spent most of their time discreetly looking at their iPhones under the table.

The 15 minute 'comment and feedback' section at the end was actually 30 seconds of "yes - well done - I need to go now".

Following this experience, I began to wonder if I actually still wanted to work here. The situation was explained away as "we're doing so much recruitment right now, this sometimes happens". So I decided to stick with it.

Next I had a 15 minute face to face with the UK AVP and a telephone interview with the UK MD. Both encounters were relaxed and informal and I found it easy to remain in control of the conversation. Both of them had left Salesforce within 6 months.

Finally another telephone interview with the President of EMEA. On this call, I had been warned to expect such questions as "how many hairs are there on a dog" and "how many bicycle tyres were sold in China last year", but it was nothing like that. Just a straightforward conversation about life, career, family and why I wanted to join Salesforce. However, I have heard that he has used such analytical questions on other interviewees.

I was offered the job and accepted.

Negotiation Details – This was more difficult. They wouldn't budge on anything, to the point that I didn't sign the offer letter for a week. After pushing very hard, I conceded and took their offer.

Interview Details Lengthy

Interview Details Telephone screening, call with manager and team members, panel case study presentation and interview, final interviews with senior execs

Interview Details Totally unenjoyable and unrealistic process.
Approached via social media due to outstanding profile and skills match.
Asked to do loads of prep work for a mock presentation.
Asked to learn their products in a few weeks so as to present these back to them.
Technical knowledge of their products before process - ZERO
Technical knowledge of their products at the mock presentation - slightly below ZERO
Advised prior to mock presentation a general understanding of products was needed only - "high level" is the words used.
Feedback on process - not enough knowledge of the products.
Clearly, interviewers didn't take the time to read the CV or other social media info on the profile.
Process setup to make failure more likely rather than highlight weaknesses and identify how to bolster those.
Told 'after the fact' that a 'turnkey person' was needed - translation - we want a salesforce guru. So why approach someone without a salesforce background only to let the fail ?

Reason for Declining – Stated they wanted something different, got that during the interview, then changed the scope of what they were looking for. Time wasting.

Interview Details Initial communication through a referral was positive. Had a phone conversation with an HR person, which went well although the questions were very vague. However, after informing me that I would get a call from the department head for the position I was applying after HR talked to him and asking me if I would be willing to have a conversation with people at Salesforce HQ, communication suddenly cut off. A follow up email was not replied to, and it was only after sending a second mail more than a month later that I got a reply informing me the position was on hold and more information would be given at the end of a week. Again this date passed and it was after I followed up again that I was informed the position was scrapped.

Interview Details Its was an informal interview with a person I already know who invited my for an expansive discussion to investigate the possibility of finding a fit for me skills in their organisation. 2nd step would be an interview with a more senior member of their team and would include a role play, however I have decided not to pursue the opportunity.

Reason for Declining – There would be little benefit to me with joining this organisation and would be a sideways move.

Interview Details Phone screen by recruiter
In-person interview with a panel of managers (typically the ones that have an open rec)
Presentation (this may be changing soon)

Interview Details There was a 1 hour phone interview with hiring manager. If that goes well, it was followed by a 2 hour times programming test. That went well and was invited for on-site interview. It was 4 technical interviews. 1 was with a iOS developer, lunch interview with managers, Android concepts with 2 Android Engineers, 1 with product manager and last one with two Test Engineers

Interview Details 1st Round of Phone Screening
2nd Round onsite pure Java Screening