Applied October 2015 - Contacted January 2015
No closed-interview/standardized questions (during phone screen or in-person interview) - poor/unstructured selection process including likely no quantifiable measurements on resume/application review, interviews, etc. (manager's seem to hire based on how they "feel" about candidates)
In-person interviewers not prepared (clearly had not done a thorough review of resume)
In-person interviewers unable to answer basic questions about the position (i.e. prior/current sales goals/actual sales)
In-person interviewers focused on more "junior" level concerns
In-person interviewers spent more time talking than asking questions (1 hour interview - I talked for a total of 5-10 minutes or less)
Based on responses from interviewers, corporate culture is likely dysfunctional and micro management present from top-down
Usage of CRM likely inefficient and ineffective (feeding/perpetuating the above)
Both interviewers seemed overly concerned with hearing me say specifically that phone calls would be the primary method of Business Development utilized - which to most seasoned/successful sales professionals is rote/a given (there was intimation made that a prior holder of this position or others in similar positions would not or were not making phone calls. I was initially asked, "What kinds of business development activities would you engage in?").
Putting that kind of focus on such common/traditional sales methods/tactics (albeit I am making no argument against that phone calls are one of the most important and necessary tactics in sales) comes across as neophyte, and makes it appear like what OSA is looking for is a more junior level sales person as opposed to a seasoned/director level sales professional who takes/expresses an entrepreneurial approach to pipeline development and sales activities (my initial answer to the prior mentioned question was an example of how I used IT to "scrape" a website to pull 6,000 leads; organize them by priority; discuss the high-priority targets with board/staff to network/get warm introductions; etc.). Sales Directors can and often do have direct/personal quotas to hit, but are not simply making calls/prospecting 24/7 - they are developing greater options and opportunities to fill pipelines and ultimately create membership/business opportunities. Though the job description reflected this – the interview did not.
The sense I got from this element of the conversation is that the position may have the title of "Director" but is really more focused on what most senior sales persons and I would consider a more "junior" level sales job. I was left with the impression that titles may be a manner in which the organization seeks to "reward" or attract what they consider to be qualified employees (as opposed to monetarily).
I did ask was regarding the corporate culture – something that is extremely important to me and likely to most candidates with professional experience. The initial reply was one word, "bureaucratic", and it was said in such a way (tone and body language) that it was clearly not intended to be taken in a positive manner.
The next response, which made it sound like the culture is intended to be collaborative and communicative across departments - but the detail provided of all staff being required to copy managers on (potentially all) email communications seems more representative of control concerns/micro management (despite the comments that followed trying to refute/diffuse this, and the lateral interviewer's resistant sounding, "I'm not quite on board 100% with that practice, yet" commentary). Without knowing more details, that kind of environment could easily have played a role in the success or failure of this position in the past (as well as others - it was also noted that this is a trickle-down all the way from the Chief Industry Relations Officer - also in my view not a good sign).
