Ten Golden Rules Director of Search Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Oct 2010 in Boca Raton, FL (took a day)

I interviewed with the company in October 2010. I originally applied online with Careerbuilder or Monster for their Director of Search position, but when I got there I found out the position had been filled (by my interviewer) and there were multiple positions available. In South Florida, this is just another excuse for attracting a highly qualified employee and trying to get them to accept a lower paying position.

I did initial research about this company by first going to Linkedin and finding that a majority of the employees that had listed this in their profile had been there less than a year so I knew this place was high turnover and if I worked there it was doubtful that I wouldn't be there longer than a year.

My interview was with the VP of Operations and the Director of Search for an Account Manager position. Upon arrival, I counted about 6 people in the company. The owner was out of town (after accepting the position I found out that the owner typically was only in town 1-2 times a week max). Everyone was running around like chickens with their heads cut off while the VP of Operations was commanding everyone. To me it appeared that everyone was being micromanaged by her (which I would find out is the norm).

The interview with the VP of Operations was pretty straightforward. She told me they used a project management system which had itemized tasks in it that would be assigned to me or someone else I worked with and we were to go through each task and complete them as fast as humanly possible. She looked through my resume and then passed me onto the Director of Search.

The Director of Search and I got along well. He and I had about the same amount of experience so we talked about old times and search engines. He asked me what position I was applying for and I responded, "You know I don't really know because I was brought in here to interview for your position, so I have no idea what the other jobs that are open are".

The final part was to come in another day and interview the owner who was in town for a day and talk with him for a final approval. He told me that basically the VP of Operations runs everything (he called it "The Margie Show") and he was only the final approval because it was his company so if the VP of Operations liked me as well as the Director of Search then everything was ok. I had been in the audience for a speech he had given several years ago and we talked about all of the trade shows he presented at.

I told them that I only had a few days for them to make a decision because I had another offer on the table. When I left after the interview with the owner I thought they were so disorganized that they would totally forget about me so I ultimately accepted the other offer (until this company countered with more money).

The clue about ex-employee high turnover rate on Linkedin should have been the giveaway to avoid this company.