Process is pretty straightforward. Three step process, screening call with recruiter, call with manager and 3 more calls with a VP and two managers. You can schedule the last 3 calls back to back to back. They move fast. The first two steps of the process were great. The first recruiter I worked with was kind and understanding. The first manager I spoke to was great and pretty cool. We had a great discussion. Now right before the 3rd step is where I started to see red flags. Another recruiter calls me for “prep”. It’s not really prep it’s a list of reasons why people “fail” the interview. Recruiter was combative and condescending. Corrected me multiple times and spoke to me like I was a child. I can tell they get a lot of subpar talent interviewing with them because the prep was very basic no-nos of interviewing like dressing nice and not bashing your last company. A kid out of college would know these basic principals. Get to the panel. They tell you to prep and read case studies about the product and really know samsara but they don’t talk about that at all. They all ask you the same cookie cutter behavioral questions and the interview is super weird and not conversational at all. I felt like I was fighting the tides trying to showcase my experience and answer their questions in the STAR method just to be met with one word responses. I also felt like the hours of prep I did was a huge waste of time since it was just behavioral questions you answer in the STAR method. I accidentally mixed up one of the hiring managers past experience with another’s. Manager got very temperamental and aggressive and took it extremely personally. I was uncomfortable. It was a minor error and I quickly pivoted and recovered my talk track. They all kept “warning” me about the position. Big red flags like talks of turnover, them looking at AEs as “costs” and the “challenging” environment. I’ve interviewed countless times in my career. In my experience, when I see these red flags in the process it tells me that the sales org is toxic, micromanagement is rampant and creative / different sellers are ostracized. Also I never felt like I was welcome or they were trying to recruit me, instead of saying “this is unique experience tell me about it” it was “it seems to me like you’re a job hopper” or “why did you do this? You know how that looks right?”. If you are looking for a start in this industry (big growth) or are a very operationally focused seller that can follow a system. I think it’s a good move. If you are experienced, very ambitious and have a unique approach to sales I would avoid. I got passed on, was not shocked - they got one thing right I am not a fit. I was actually writing up an email to withdrawal and they beat me to the bunch and called. No feedback. Super unprofessional.

There were 7 interviews with different areas of the company including the one who would be my manager, the idea was to see my capabilities as an employee, experience in the industry, in sales and my cultural fit.