I met an Account Manager at my University's Career Fair who was incredibly sweet, energetic and informative. We kept in touch and she set up my initial interview with a Sales Manager at the office of my choice. On the day of my interview, she called me to prep me for the interview and give me some insight on what the sales manager was going to ask me. She let me know that it would be very laid back and that he was very excited to meet me. I arrived to a small, empty waiting room with a sign that asked me to use the telephone to let them know that I was there. After doing so, someone came out to let me know that it wouldn't be too much longer and offered me a drink of water. After about 10 minutes, an Account Manager came out, introduced herself and brought me to the interview room. She informed me that they for some reason were not expecting me so that she would just conduct the interview since the Sales Manager that I was told to ask for was not in. Seeing as I drove three hours for the interview, I was a bit disappointed that I was not going to have the chance to meet the person I was told was "so excited to meet me." The interview was very laid back and she asked me non-traditional interview questions like "where do you like to go out on the weekends?" and "do you have a boyfriend?" After speaking with her, she asked me to sit tight and she would see if the Sales Manager was back in the office to meet me. Two minutes later he walked in, introduced himself and conducted the same type of laid back interview in a shorter amount of time. He really wanted to answer all of my questions but the Account Manager already had so I just asked him the same questions to get his perspective. Needless to say, it was very repetitive. Both interviewers really emphasized that they love coming to work everyday because their co-workers are their friends and that they each live by the motto "work hard, play harder." I was a bit surprised by some of the unconventional questions that were asked but overall I thought it went well.
The original Account Manager that I had been in contact with called me immediately after my interview to see how it went. I let her know that I thought it went well and I was looking forward to continuing the interview process. She called me a few days later to set up the next interview, which I was told would be a lunch interview. She called me again on the interview day to prep me for it. When I arrived at the office, I followed the same routine where I called them on the telephone to let them know I was in the waiting room. To my surprise, the interview was actually conducted in the same room on premises and was with another Sales Manager and an Account Manager. This interview was very similar. It was more of a conversation where they had the opportunity to get to know me and vice versa. I really enjoyed speaking with them and thought it went very well. They told me they would let me know the next day (Friday) or Monday. I spoke with the initial Account Manager once again after my interview to let her know how it went.
After not hearing back from anyone for over a week, I called the Account Manager who had helped me along the way. She apologized that no one had contacted me and informed me that although they were very impressed by me and thought I was very professional, they decided to go with a candidate who was more sales oriented.
Overall, everyone was very friendly and seemed like the type of people I would normally hang out with. The company culture would have definitely made the transition from college very easy. However, the entire process was completely unprofessional and disorganized. It seemed more like a fraternity or sorority house rather than a professional establishment. Although I have been heavily involved in my sorority for 4 and a half years, this company just did not seem like a good fit for me for my first career.