I applied for the Account Executive I position in August 2021. I received an email within a few days telling me my resume wasn't a match. I then applied again in September and their system said I'd applied too recently, so I applied for a different sales role, and the recruiter reached out and said they'd like to interview me for Account Executive I. Moral is, don't give up!
I had an unusual and circuitous experience interviewing with Beyond (6+ weeks). Notwithstanding what I will explain shortly, I am left impressed by the people they employ, and had a positive experience with the recruiter throughout. On the other hand I was less impressed by the twists and turns, as well as how they conduct their interview process in general.
Here is a brief accounting of the stages:
1) Recruiter screen, 30 minutes
2) Director of Sales screen, 30 minutes
3) Sales Manager screen, 30 minutes
4) Mock product demo, 30 minutes
4b) Meet with Director of Sales who implied I didn't quite show enough to qualify for AE, and instead offered me to proceed interviewing for Sr. BDR (one step below), 30 minutes
5) Founder/CTO screen, 30 minutes
6) Pre-offer discussion, 20 minutes
7) Rejection via phone by the recruiter
8) Post-mortem with Director of Sales, 30 minutes
First off, it's laborious for both parties to conduct five interviews for an AE position, let alone BDR. I suggest Beyond combine the Director of Sales and Sales Manager screens into one hourlong session. I never had enough time to ask all my questions, the interviews were not difficult, and it felt like it was the same interview four times in a row with four different people. While I enjoyed each conversation and interlocutor, Beyond is not at all efficient in assessing talent via the interview process. [Spend any time on LinkedIn and you'll see a headline that the market is demanding the recruiting process become more streamlined and talent-oriented.]
Next, I sent 6 emails to my various interviewers during this process and received not one response. Three 'thank you' emails, two emails that required no response, and one pointedly asking questions. The recruiter was disconcerted to hear this, which tells me everyone at the company, like so many others these days, is somewhat under water with their workload and thus their bandwidth is too strained to maintain studiously professional conduct with candidates.
What distinguished my experience from most others was changing track mid-course. I was a bit crestfallen to shift my interview position to Sr. BDR, but also came around to accept and embrace the opportunity because joining the company in a sales position was my primary goal. That said, during my discussion with the Director of Sales weighing my interest in proceeding, they also told me I did a great job during the mock demo and believed I would be able to get up to speed in the AE role. I left the conversation hopeful I might still be given the chance, but then early the next week the recruiter confirmed it was BDR. Hm.
Mercifully, they didn't ask me to conduct another mock experience, and I proceeded to interview with the Founder/CTO. Oddly he asked me about my Customer Success experience almost the entire time. Great person, but again, there was a level of incoherence I experienced throughout my process that I do feel comes down to a limited bandwidth on the one, and a redundant process on the other.
A few more notes:
1) The interviews can be too casual. The consequence is that most of the interview process, barring the mock demo, feels like one big "get to know you," without challenging questions that effectively discern a candidate's viability. I suggest the staff drill down to demand specificity from candidates, which usually exposes people who can't back up their resumes, or haven't properly prepared.
2) The structure of the process needs to be better conveyed to the candidate by the recruiter, and the intent of each interview stated clearly before beginning each one. For instance, I had to ask the CTO what the goal of the interview was, because hadn't I already done this three times already? Or is it just that he has to like me too? For another instance, the recruiter should tell each candidate during the pre-offer discussion, "This is a pre-offer discussion and the information you provide me will be the final factor in determining whether or not we make you an offer."
3) Beyond should identify ideal roles for talent they especially want to hire if there is a mismatch in the role currently being interviewed. Why let a good one go? I do realize I am rating myself here.
4) The DoS is an astute and super solid human who mostly redeemed my experience amidst my frustrations.
A note to Beyond: Thank you for the opportunity! I hope you make considerable improvements based on my experience (ergo yours), before this review even factors into it. Peace, and keep on killin' it.
