I reached out to a recruiter on LinkedIn and she happened to be the hiring recruiter for the position I was interested in. I had one screening phone call with her where she asked very basic questions about my experience and told me about the available position. An interview with the hiring manager was set up for about a week later. When I got there, it was me across from the market manager and two area managers at a board room table-very intimidating and intense! They proceeded to grill me for the next 45 minutes. Although my current position is heavy with operations, I have a strong background in sales that they kind of "looked over." Much to my surprise, they didn't even ask me about my management style or situational questions. They strictly wanted to know what I would do to generate sales in the branch. Then they told me they'd get back with me by the end of the week and waited two additional weeks to tell me they were moving forward with another candidate.

Quick phone interview followed by a three person interview (in-person). The district managers were more focused on why I was considering moving from my current employer than they were with my 16 years of experience. I focused on the coaching and sales aspect of my experience and they weren’t really concerned with quality coaching interactions. This tells me they aren’t hiring a manager, they are hiring a very experienced sales person. If your passion is coaching and developing, avoid at all costs.