Lindt & Sprüngli Interview Questions & Reviews

2.0 Easy Interview

Overall Neutral Experience

Received and Declined Offer

Reason for Declining

The organisational structure, future prospects and lifestyle just weren't right. I also didn't want to move countries for a job if there wasn't clear support for me and for the role either upwards or in-country.

The decentralised company structure suggested I was walking in to a repeat of my product-related experience at ebay with high expectations but no local budget or resource to deliver. People I spoke to in-country talked of international as the 'brand nazis' they wished would 'bugger off'

The headhunters behaviour post the offer being made was appalling including re were also comments made. The future job and pay prospects he described turned out to be completely unrealistic. I was told my next role would be as MD of a smaller market or Marketing Director of a newly acquired brand in 2-3 years. He was also extremely rude, incessant contact when I was away on holiday despite having asked for no calls whilst I decided whether or not to take the job and suggested I was stupid when I challenged their calculations and offer based on UK tax not being 40% across the board as he suggested. Unless you're earning in the 6 figures you don't actually earn more as Canton tax plus CH tax is about the same as here (Whilst rent is a lot cheaper the cost of day-to-day living is more expensive and with so much travel so you'd want a lifestyle where you wouldn't have to worry about making ends meet when you were at home and that wasn't on offer here.

The most senior person I met made it clear that they really wanted someone different but couldn't afford or find them: someone of my boss' who viewed the jobs a commitment for life not a 2-3 year project as us Brits apparently do. My hobbies (tennis, yoga, etc.) also apparently suggested someone who liked time to themselves and they wanted someone who was on the road entertaining country teams which having done that as a consultant wasn't the lifestyle I was after.

Also it became clear that there was nothing fast about creating change within FMCG and I'd go bananas trying to do this on my own. The examples of the types of worked given fellow and more experience members of the International team suggested things ran on ridiculously slow timelines: 2 years to select a new audio brand tone; 60+ country consensus on a new lead actor for TV and immediate tasks for me weren't appropriate: single-handed creating an image and email database, researching costs - thigns you'd normally outsource

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