Gartner Sales Development Associate interview questions

There were multiple rounds that included a email role-play as well as a phone call role-play. They are looking for very specific qualities in their new hires that they will share with you. As long as you share relevant experiences to those categories you will be okay. It's also important to share the reason you are motivated by sales. The recruiters will push back and challenge you.

I was contacted by a recruiter via LinkedIn and completed an introductory phone call (which I later learned was the first interview). I was advised over the phone that I would be moved to the second round interview with a different recruiter. The second interview was a Webex meeting which included behavioral interview questions using the STAR method and a role play exercise where you turn off your camera and pretend to conduct a cold call with a prospective client ("you're the owner of a gym and are trying to convince someone to join"). The second interview ended with feedback from the recruiter and I was advised I would proceed to the final round panel interview. Ahead of the interview, I completed a brief writing exercise (mock email) and the second recruiter contacted me to prep for the final interview. She provided me with questions/answers the panel interviewers would ask/expect. She further advised me at the end of the call that the decision to employ me would be primarily based on how my personality meshed with the current team. She hyped me up and convinced me that I would be successful in the final round. The final interview was conducted via Webex with two staff members from the Gartner team. The structure was the same as the second interview (behavioral questions, role play exercise). They each asked 2-3 follow up questions to each of my responses. In the middle of the behavioral questions, one of the interviewers stopped me to advise me that I was not answering the questions to her liking, and had me re-answer. We then moved to the cold call role play exercise, which included feedback that I was "too nervous" when making a fake call in an interview. I was advised at the end of the interview that I needed to "be sure that sales was the right job" for me, to "look up what the job entails", and told me I was too naive, despite weeks of preparation, research and calls with recruiters. While Gartner interviewers did advise that they rely on feedback in the workplace, the instant feedback in the interview was off-putting, as well as the insinuation that this was not the career move for me. There were multiple times during the interview where I considered ending the call. The recruitment team hypes you up, convincing you that you will succeed and be an ideal candidate. The panel interviewers expected you to be versed in sales/how to make cold calls. The position is presented as a program where you learn on the job, however the impression I received was that you have to know how the job works and they will fine-tune you to be what Gartner wants. I should have trusted the reviews ahead of continuing with the interview process. If the interview is any indication of how the office is, this is not a company I would want to work for.