From the initial application to getting an offer, the entire Salesforce application process was one of the most painless and enjoyable experiences I have ever had – and it really gave me a fantastic first impression of the company. After an initial call with the recruiter to explain the process, I was invited to an initial call with a Senior Director in the practice that I was applying for. The call covered basic competency questions and knowledge of Salesforce, including some specialised questions around background and capability in presales, and ability to discover customer requirements. There were no trick questions and it felt completely like a conversation, rather than an interview.
After 5 days, I received a phone call from the recruiter informing me that I had been successful, with some feedback and improvement points from the interview, which helped a lot. The second round was a face-to-face panel interview, where you are given a briefing pack with a fictional company, and you are asked to prepare a presentation lasting no longer than 45 minutes (consisting of a 25 minute sales presentation and 20 minute Salesforce demonstration). You are given a sample presentation pack with lots of boiler plate slides, as well as access to a preconfigured Salesforce demonstration environment with plenty of sample data and features activated.
Truth be told – I was dreading this stage of the interview, however I actually found it the most enjoyable. In order to help you prepare for this presentation, you are given 2 lifelines. The first is access to a “buddy” during your interview process – you are allotted 2 hours of their time to sense check/dry run your presentation. I found this service incredibly useful – as it allows you to tailor your presentation to what the interviewers are looking for, so use it! The second is a briefing call with the “CIO” of the company you are presenting to (who may or may not be in your interview), which allows you to delve deeper into the company and to find out more about their business issues. Be sure to prep well for this and make lots of notes (they purposely dangle a few carrots in front of you during the call), so you can refer back to these during the presentation.
The presentation itself went very well, and the preparation through the buddy and CIO briefing call helped immensely. The interview “panel” is usually composed of around 3–4 senior people who play different roles (mine were the CEO, CIO, Head of Sales and Head of Customer Service) throughout the presentation. You should take time to include all of them, and tailor your content to each person (referring back to the information you gained throughout the CIO briefing call). About 5 days after the presentation, I received a call from the recruiter informing me that I had been successful and provided me with some detailed feedback on my performance, which was very useful.
The final stage is an interview with a VP in the area that you are applying for (mine was based in Sweden). This was more an informal chat and gave me the opportunity to ask further questions about the role, about the direction of Salesforce and about my future within Solution Engineering. I would recommend prepping some questions for this – as it is another opportunity for you to find out whether Salesforce is the right fit or not.
About a week after this interview, I received my final call from the recruiter informing me that I had been successful and that I would be receiving an offer, which I was delighted about. The professionalism, courtesy and friendliness afforded to me throughout the interview process made accepting the offer a complete no-brainer. Salesforce clearly prides itself on the recruitment process and makes sure that all candidates are supported as much as possible (it’s not an easy process) and if they treat their employees with the same care and attention as they do for their candidates, then I have very high hopes for the company!