The interview process is pretty lengthy. I went through two phone screens with two different Human Resource professionals. They were both extremely pleasant and extremely friendly.
Within 2 weeks I had been approved or selected to be moved to the next phase, interviewing with the hiring manager.
I had to wait another 2 weeks to interview with the hiring manager. Her personality and candidness was great. She encouraged me and made me believe that my years of experience in business were going to assist me and make me a great Pre Sales business consultant. She recommended I purchase a book, "Demonstrating to Win", of which I did and I read it. After about 2 more weeks following their New Year kick off, we had another phone call/interview. It was at that time she asked me to prepare a PowerPoint presentation on a software in my business. She gave me about a week to prepare. After having prepared the presentation I was invited to an onsite interview in Denver. For that presentation I was going to have to prepare another presentation about NetSuite, even though she knew I didn't know about the company software. I have sat on the other side of the table, the customer, many times and even though I knew it would be a challenge, I was confident that my years of experience and knowledge that I could do it. I scoured the net and tracked any info I could about NetSuite. I studied and reviewed my presentation for many days prior, the 2 month process to get to the presentation had encouraged me to assimilate and espouse NetSuite. I really felt a part of the organization. I remembered my MBA studies and thought "wow this is the prefect weed out process and hiring process to find people that will embody your company". Last minute they changed my schedule and flip flopped my presentation with my interview. My onsite was an hour long interview panel and an hour long presentation of "Why NetSuite". I was prepared, I spent $1,500 on a custom suit to dress to impress and even learned the Rubix cube as it was part of my presentation. I walked into the presentation unfortunately sleep deprived because at this point, I had invested so much into the job that I wanted it, I wanted to nail it and get it right. The panel interview was very unorthodox, it was more of a chit chat session. I thought it went very well. I felt more a part of the team, a lot of "we" talk. Those words that show you the interviewer is seeing you as part of their team. I lost my bearing at that point. I could no longer pretend or act like these people whom I now knew (one was a coach, the other had a family with a new born, another was so green that it was joked he just left high school) were potential clients. Additionally because I didn't know the software my presentation was at this point a marketing presentation for NetSuite instead of a Pre Sales presentation. How could I be taken seriously presenting a product of my research to professionals of the software? I got through the presentation with respect but not to my satisfaction. I had also failed at my first attempt at the Rubix Cube (I can do the Rubix in about 3 minutes now, I still do it to this day having them all around the house). I still felt that based off of my executive level of business knowledge that I had proven that I was resourceful and if given a task get the job done because even the hiring manager said "Everything I have thrown at him he has gotten it done, read the book, prepare a preso, prepare another preso, reschedule, etc.".
I received a call over a week later, I knew from the lack of communication, even after having emailed 7 different thank you's out that the call wasn't going to be in my favor. It was not. The recruiter called me to let me know that they weren't going to add me to the team. A little while longer the hiring manager, whom I had grown over the two month period to look up to and had started to look as a mentor, called me and let me know she was sorry. She let me know that I had a strong skill set but they didn't have the time to train me to be what they needed. I was extremely disappointed as I had invested so much time and so many resources into the process it would almost seem that after having spent that much time going through the interview process that one would have proven their dedication. I had an employee that is well respected in one of their verticals supporting me along the way which I thought would have given me a higher level of credibility. I even had put a number of my own responsibilities to my present job on hold because I had dedicated myself to this job interview process. I was disappointed but respected the decision they made. You win some you lose some, I wish I had won this one but it was a great learning experience. I will use it to land that next job opportunity.
