The interview process was well-rounded, thorough and did a good job of "pulling back the curtains" on both the company and applicant.
Interview 1 is with a regional recruiter by phone. This is the easiest, most basic interview, but your questions and answers to their questions will come up in future interviews. In this interview, it's not terribly difficult to qualify for the next step. They ask the important questions: where do you work, where have you worked, what degree do you have, and what questions do you have. The last part, what questions do you have, is important. Ask a lot of questions, because this is a great chance to get your first glimpse at the company.
Interview 2 is with the Director of Business Operations - aka, the general manager of the office. He's in charge, and in my case, going to pick your personal and professional life apart. Keep in mind that this is a company that hires / recruits people for a living, so the DBO is going to be especially good at finding the truth. If you attempt to fake, lie or deviate from the truth as to who you are, what you've accomplished, and where you want to work is going to be blatantly obvious.
Assuming you pass this step, which for me, was at least an hour and a half discussion of every position I've had, and as much about my personal life as the DBO could wring out of me, the third interview is a 1/2-day spent at the company office.
Honestly, the 1/2-day is awesome - for both the company and applicant. You don't make it to this step without having a legitimate chance at employment. The idea behind the half-day is to give you the opportunity to 1) see how the office operates for half of a business day. You're there before 8AM to see their morning meeting, and spend time with each Account Manager (whom will one of be your direct supervisor), as well as a few Recruiters (whom will be your direct peers / colleagues). They will pitch this as an opportunity for you to see the company - open curtains, fully exposed. This is why I love the idea... you really have the opportunity to see how everyone functions. Sure, it's awkward because you're nervous and everything, but two things to keep in mind: in life, it's only awkward if you make it awkward, and 2, everyone else in the office has done their own 1/2-day, so they know what you're going through. The biggest thing to remember is to ask as many questions as possible. If you're reading this, you know well enough to look up common questions to ask in an interview, but you've already asked those in the first two interviews... so what do you ask? Ask about each individual's experience. Ask how they progressed, how they felt in their first 6, 12, 18, 24 months, ask how much money they make (seriously), ask how much money they made in their first year. Ask how quickly they were promoted, and how long the typical Recruiter is promoted. Also, and almost as important as asking how much money they make, ask them ABOUT THEMSELVES. This is going to open their questions as to who you are. Remember, as a recruiter, this is a people-business. Nobody works for Teksystems because they're IT-related, so the thing that will get you a job offer is your personality. Give each team-member (especially Account Managers) the opportunity to learn who YOU are. What makes David Swindell different from John Doe? They want to know.
After the third interview (1/2-day), you may expect a job offer. You won't get it. There's a 4th interview, and that's a panel discussion. All of those Account Managers you had the opportunity to ask questions and shadow? They'll have their notes and will ask you all of the final questions that they didn't get a real answer to. If you brushed off a question in the 1/2-day, they'll ask again. If you made something unclear - i.e, your goals, they will figure those out. Be ready for repetitive questions, and if you lied in another portion of the interview, their notes will point that out.
Ultimately, they want you to close. You're applying for a sales position, so just getting away with the appropriate answer isn't going to cut it. They want to know who you are, where you're going and how you plan on getting there. They'd like to see you're a people-person -after all, you'll be dealing with people on a daily basis. If you know nothing about IT, that's not a problem in the least bit. Ideally, they want you to be money motivated, which is why the questions about how much they make and how much you can expect to make isn't a problem. Show them you want to make some money and they'll be willing to train you.
