I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Demandbase
Interview
Contacted through recruiter. Very professional and communicated well. Had an initial phone screening interview followed by phone interview with hiring manager and then a Skype call with hiring manager and department head. Enjoyed all the interviews and was impressed with speed of progress. Seems like a great company to have worked for had I got an offer.
I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Demandbase
Interview
Firstly I want to write this review as I invested alot of time and energy into the interview only to be turned down for a very subjective and what could have been establised alot sooner if they improved their interview processes internally.
This interview was a whopping 5 stage interview process for a role with many stakeholders after hours UK time. All calls were with stakeholders based in the US from either the New York which I have no reservaions with, I think it's important to start the interview process with an informal conversation to get an understanding if they have the right attitude and would be a cultural fit. However what I found troubling in the process is the extent of the information I needed to present in the task and the lack of transparency with scheduling of interviews.
Let's start on the task which I was more than happy to complete and invested a whole weekend away from my family and precious time with the kids just to invest the time to create the decks and prepare the presentation. The brief was anything but the word "brief" this involved alot of research and pre-product knowledge (which should done if the candidate is suceessful as part of the onboarding process). Also the brief truely demonstrates this companies understanding of the work culture of Europe VS the US. Seriously role plays in a brief for a ficticious US centric business for a candidate in the UK? They're not authentic and pretty cringeworthy! I hope this feedback is taken into consideration and that the business could at least offer a more respectable brief to suit European needs.
In terms of scheduling I was not given a date and time of when I would be presening until the day before via a very rude email from HR as if I am wasting her time (oh the irony). Sure time zones come into consideration, however it is not respectful of a company to give a candidate who invests a whole weekend into a presentation the time and date of their final stage the day before. Due to the scheduling stress I believe my presentation could have been much better.
In addition to this the interviewers seemed more concerned with time keeping of the interview then the content. If you hear "I have a hard stop at xx" on an interview especially during a presentation it demonstates a lack of respect to the candidate. I've invested time in a presentation, the least you can do is give me the time and places to present. If that means an extra 5 minutes to demonstate I am a good candidate then so be it.
Finally the feedback which all in all was OK, however the conclusion why I wasn't successful was down to seniority and "lack of experience" in the industry. Surely without having me commit hours to a presentation this could have been indentified before the last stage. 5 Stages for an interview is overkill.
- 4 x 30 minute interviews
- 12 hours presentation
- 2 hours final interview
- 16 hours in total I spent roughly on this interview I could have spent with my family instead!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Stark Industries, a fictional multinational software company, has recently purchased Demandbase’s ABM Platform for their Marketing department after finding success advertising with Demandbase. They have been educated on the benefits of ABM from the Demandbase Sales team, but ABM Platform will be their first step to building an ABM strategy.
Please use this template to create a presentation of seven slides or less and be prepared to discuss how you would educate Stark’s Marketing team on ABM Platform’s value, its rollout and projected success. This is not a ‘training session’ for end-users. You are presenting your utilization and value plan to Stark’s VP of Marketing, Sr. Director of Lead-Gen and Marketing Operations Manager.
Consider the following suggestions to help build your presentation:
How would define success for Stark Industries and what criteria would you use to define it?
How would you build customer buy-in to make the Demandbase and Stark partnership a success?
What cross-functional teams would you leverage from Demandbase and why?