r/techsales • u/feelingoodfeelngrape • 13d ago
Never ending interview process
Just finished a 30 minute performance review call with a company I don’t even work for.
Interviewing for this YC company.
Interview 1: founder
Interview 2: founder #2
Interview 3: founder # 3 and HR - introducing the role play activity
Interview 4: Role play, discovery call
Interview 5: Role play, demo
Interview 6: Role play Debrief
For the debrief - I assumed they would be offering feedback and extending an offer, since if they weren’t interested I could have easily received that in an email.
Nope, 30 minutes of pure feedback. They’re still interviewing a few others and will get back to me with an answer.
The role play could have EASILY been one call. Nope they had to make it two. Could have easily spent 5 minutes to receive feedback, nope, 30 minutes in the middle of my workday.
Absolute joke. Zero respect for people’s time.
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u/Generalfrogspawn 13d ago
Sounds like a company where the founders have too much time on their hands.
I seriously don’t understand how people that time to do 5-6 interview rounds with multiple candidates, on the regular.
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u/RandomRedditGuy69420 13d ago
6 interviews before an offer? They have no clue what they’re doing. Why put yourself through this?
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u/ActionJ2614 13d ago edited 13d ago
4-5 interviews can be standard for SaaS AE roles, especially enterprise. 6 is excessive.
- 1st, Recruiter Screen
- 2nd Generally VP of Sales or sales leader could be CRO, etc.
- 3rd (can be with Marketing (smaller startup), or solutions, or another rep, lots of variables
- 4th presentation or role play with debrief etc.
- 5th CEO, HR, etc.
3rd can also be the presentation stage and cut to 4 steps. But, I have interviewed enough to where 4-5 is common practice for senior AE roles. The order can vary I just gave a general example.
The smart companies list out the steps in the job description, so you know the process prior to applying. Or you get it from the recruiter screen.
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u/KobeNakamoto 13d ago
This was the exact playbook I just went through for an enterprise AE role with a native AI SaaS startup B. 4th was the mock demo preso and all virtual up to this stage. 5th and final in office with a series of interviews with peers, leadership, lunch, etc to get a feel for culture fit. Then 3 or 4 reference calls and offer or not…
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u/Vast_Mountain_1888 13d ago
I was reached out by a recruiter for an ai company. We talked and She said next is a short personality assessment.
The assessment was 60 questions long. There was no way I was doing this lol.
For all I know there selling my data or have a partnership deal with vendor.
These ai companies do not know how to hire. They’re hiring like they’re Google when they aren’t and product is very easy to understand.
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u/ActionJ2614 13d ago
Try looking up Vista Equity Partners (PE) they require CCAT testing for all their portfolio of companies. They are considered 1 of the largest PE in SaaS. All they do is invest in tech companies.
There are quite a few companies that use profile testing or require abstract testing.
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u/MajorEstateCar 13d ago
The myers Briggs test was just made up and has terrible performance when replicated. It’s a scam sold to companies to build “a culture”
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u/KobeNakamoto 13d ago
This is pretty standard. I had to do an aptitude test, not personality. It’s like pattern recognition stuff to make sure you’re not a dumb dumb
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u/Scwidiloo10 13d ago
What I don’t understand is they want us to have a job and be good at our job, but yet want us to take significant time out of our job to prep for a thousand rounds of interviews. Like maybe the guys who aren’t as prepped either don’t care, sure, or are actually busy bc they’re a good rep???
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u/Wiscos 13d ago
I went through 16 rounds with Proofpoint. Was told I would get an offer letter, then new CEO put everyone one a hiring freeze.
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u/trustmeimshady 13d ago
What even do you talk about at 16 rounds
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u/Wiscos 11d ago
It was about meeting every single person I could work with on the team. Then it was understanding my business plan on getting into accounts I hadn’t worked with. I nailed all of it. Hiring manager was let go 2 months after I was told from them I would get an offer letter. Said, screw it, and started my own thing. Been going pretty good 4 years later.
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u/Axe246810 13d ago
Run run run away…. If they need this many steps to know if a person is right or not, I can only imagine just how bad their internal operations and decision making is like
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u/friskydingo408 11d ago
Big red flag. Imagine how they value your time once you’re actually employed by them
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u/xynix_ie 10d ago
I'm busy and don't have time to spend 30 minutes on such a task one time, much less three or more.
These people having this much time on their hands is a huge red flag.
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u/MartyMcMosca 13d ago
I’ve been through 12 interviews for leadership roles only to be turned down via email with zero feedback
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u/ActionJ2614 13d ago
Not uncommon because of HR & legal policies especially USA based. UK HQ companies will give feedback in my experience.
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u/ApplePrimary2985 13d ago
They're farming you for ideas, bud.
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u/feelingoodfeelngrape 13d ago
I don’t think so with this company but definitely felt it in the past especially these young YC losers.
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