About 24 hours after submitting my application, I received an email inviting me to a telephone "chat", which was supposed to last 15-30 minutes. I scheduled something in for the following week and one of the managers called me on my mobile phone. The call lasted 40 minutes, and was general, asking why I was applying and a brief outline of my current experience (I mostly described two specific projects I'd worked on).
Three days after the phone call, I was invited to an in-person interview, for which I was told I didn't have to prepare anything, but I took the time to look through their website and familiarise myself with the products. I went through the advert, identified knowledge gaps in SQL and SEO and raced through MOOCs on Udemy to fill in the blanks (the former, an introductory PostgreSQL course that lasts about 10 hours, is highly recommended if you don't know SQL at all). The first half of the interview consisted of me meeting with a sales engineer I thought I recognised (I think our kids went to nursery together), which immediately put me at ease - a relief, given that aforementioned tot kept me up most of the night before. I recognised the product and some of its features from my website digging, and understood what it did from the MOOCs. I took notes. After the demo, the two marketing managers in the room with me asked me questions to check my understanding.
The second half the interview featured general questions about my motivation and experience. They were easy to prepare for - just look through the job description, and describe instances where you have done any of the things they're looking for. My major weaknesses at this stage were that I had fulfilled each task as an individual project where they want someone with experience of a more joined up approach. Still, they asked me back. This interview lasted about 1 hr 45 minutes, and I think we were all pretty tired by the end of it (enjoyable as it was - and, weirdly, it was quite fun).
Ten days after the first face-to-face interview, they asked me for a second (third?) interview. This time, I had to prepare a presentation to "reposition" a product, which was home ground for me as much of my current role revolves around suggesting how products should either be changed to fit current market needs, or adapted to be sold somewhere else - but once the new market has been identified, I typically pass the findings over to the sales manager, and they are looking for someone who has carried into the market themselves. I based my presentation - other than personal experience - on Playing to Win by P&G CEO AG Lafley, which describes how Olay was repositioned from a cheap product for the over-50s to a "masstige" product for fashion-conscious thirtysomethings. It seemed to go over well.
The conversation at this point went right into personality fit, and that's something you simply cannot take personally. I'm an ENFP or yellow-red if you're into Colour Insights (a "natural entrepreneur"), and that might have been a clash with whatever they are looking for, especially if it's a quiet analytical blue or a harmonious green. Or it might simply have been that they want someone with more experience with web analytics, which is a weak point for me , but one I'll be addressing with volunteer work as it simply doesn't arise in my dayjob. They asked me about how I work in a "difficult team", and I couldn't answer because, very fortunately, I don't think I've ever had that experience. They told me at the second interview they would tell me in 48 hours, but it actually took them ten days, which I take as a positive sign: they must have seriously considered me.
In all, I enjoyed the experience and like the company. I think they're doing good things and hope that they find their ideal candidate soon.
