I originally found their job posting for this position on Craigslist. On July 2nd 2012, I emailed my resume and cover letter to the contact name provided in the Craigslist job posting and the Regional Catering Sales Manager responded within a couple of hours requesting me to complete their online application process. After one week of completing the online application process and not hearing from them, I followed up with the Regional Catering and Sales Manager since I had her direct email from her original response. Once again, she responded promptly, but it was to let me know that they chose to go in a different direction although they have positions become available all the time so she encouraged me to stay in touch. I responded back to thank her for her follow up and said I appreciated the consideration. That was it... until I got a call on August 7th and an email from the same manager asking me if I was still interested in the position. I called back and left her a voice mail saying yes and also responded to her email. She called me back within the hour to set up the face to face interview for the following day at one of the cafe locations. I met her at 9am and also the Director of Sales & Marketing was present at the interview. I arrived 10 minutes early which seemed positive to them. I also had several hard copies of my resume and gave one to the Director of Sales & Marketing for his review while we talked. He asked me to tell me about myself which included a "30,000 foot overview" to some vital details that were important to me. The Regional Catering Sales Manager asked questions in between about how I would proactively seek catering sales and also how I feel about specific regions of San Diego in relation to the sales territories. The Director asked me to describe what I thought the position was about and how would I describe it to a friend. It was a great question to verify if I knew anything about the kind of job I was applying for. I described it the best I could with the understanding of the job duties were as posted on the original job posting from Craigslist. I also cross referenced their catering position to my related catering work history which clearly expressed my experience in the industry and knew what it takes to get the job done. The Regional Catering Sales Manager disclosed to me that I stood out in a ton of applicants because of my consistent and professional follow up while connecting with her. That interview went great I felt and it must have since 2 days later the Regional Catering Sales Manager called me back to ask me for a 2nd interview and to meet with the other Regional Catering Sales Manager who focuses on operations and training. Overall, it was very positive experience... thus far! They very interested in hiring me and they have asked me to d a "shadow day" with one of the Catering Sales Coordinators to ensure I fully understand the scope of the position. So I've accepted their offer to experience "a day in the life of a Catering Sales Coordinator" tomorrow, Thursday, August 16th. It will be paid as an Independent Contractor (hourly) for my time from 6am - 1pm. They're trying this out since they mentioned they have had some people come and go and saying they didn't know what they were getting into. Honestly, In my opinion so far... Those people must not have had a lot of catering experience and got frustrated if they had to actually get their hands dirty. This job seems like it is a very hands on job and you must be a self-starter and self-motivated. It's like running a small business inside a large business. You can't just be an "order taker" when the catering phone rings. So far, they have revealed to me that this position is responsible for all aspects of the catering process including growing the catering business as much as possible in your assigned territory surrounding your cafe location. The more you sell... the more you make as it is an hourly, plus gratuity position. I do not have a formal offer as of today.. but expect them to follow through with one during my day tomorrow or soon after. They have expressed their intent to do so once they work out the final offer regarding starting pay rate, cafe location, etc. At this point I'm hopeful to be accepting their offer.

Simple interview process. Met with two people. Went well. There were very nice and social. We met in the store. It wasn't crowded but the interviewers were interrupted a couple of times. The interview went quickly and stayed on track.