I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Salesforce
Interview
The hardest part of the process was getting the first interview. I'll admit, my resume does not reflect that I have much ongoing sales experience (graduated college 2 years ago) and because of my lack of experience, my resume was rejected by recruiters numerous times. I finally got a phone interview as a result one of 4 people within Salesforce submitting my resume on my behalf.
Once I actually talked with one of the recruiters, the process was pretty standard. the process: 1. phone interview with recruiter, 2. in-person interview with AE manager, 3. phone interview with who would be my immediate manager, 4. in-person sales presentation for panel of 7 Salesforce employees.
Although the process was long and the presentation was somewhat stressful due to the number of people in the room asking questions about me and my presentation, the process was pretty standard for someone trying to earn a sales position.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
In my presentation I was asked to make a value calculation for the mock-customer. If I knew what a typical return on investment was as a result of implementing Salesforce within an organization, this value calculation could have been more accurate (and effective) for the presentation.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Salesforce (Toronto, ON) in May 2012
Interview
Attended an info session and then subsequently applied through an employee referral. Got a call from the San Fran HQ. Basic questions regarding previous experience and specific questions on previous sales targets that I carried. She then sent an excel sheet for me to fill in which was basically trying to ascertain my sales ability & experience based on the targets that I carried and the size of the deals that I closed.
Then had another phone interview with a hiring manager from the Toronto Office. This call didn't go well for me since my previous designation was Channel Sales Manager and he was very clear that they only hire people with direct sales exp. I tried to explain to him that though majority of the work that I did was direct to customer but he wasn't willing to look beyond the designation.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Salesforce (San Francisco, CA) in Apr 2012
Interview
Phone interview with recruiter. Very knowledgeable about SFDC, sales process, what they are looking for, etc. Called back and advised that they wanted to do a panel interview. Interviewed with two VP's f2f, went on to presentation portion of interview process. This is where it really got busy as the apparent goal is to keep you on your toes, and see who will look at what they are expecting and bail, or, just do it. Received info that was required to create a presentation. Role-play selling to execs at a company. The more you prepare/practice, the better. Seems that they wanted to see if you have a presence, can think on your feet, present the product, and ask for the sale. All in all not too bad, but initially, I admit to being a little overwhelmed by process. Meditating on it made it easy to actually do. if you believe in yourself and your abilities, the interview process should be no problem.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
General sales questions you would expect in any sales-oriented interview.