Читать книгу Non-Compete Agreements: An Employee Perspective - Ron Hummer - Страница 8

It’s hard for me to say how to categorize these interviews but in this case, I would say that there are companies that seem to have a desire to interview everyone that sends in a resume. I guess if you have enough time and nothing else to do and you feel that you’re giving a chance to every potential employee, then this might be okay even though this would seem like a waste of time to people like me.

In my case, since I do have a job, taking an interview means taking a PTO day. My feeling is that if I’m going to be interviewed, the best way for me is to start with a phone interview. I think when you do this, you’re deciding on the best candidates to call into your office. In the end, who am I to complain about this. If I don’t like it, then I shouldn’t be interviewing anywhere but maybe you’ll feel different about this after I tell you what happened.

This interview started at 10:30. I waited for the human resource person to come in. He started by asking me questions about myself and and what I did for my company. Then he threw this question in.

“Are you hitting your quota every month?

I usually get this question all the time. The answer has always been yes but I guess that I don’t see the point of people asking me this question since they are skeptical. In their mind, they say, well, how do I really know that you’re making your quota? Do you have a great poker face? Why should I believe you?

Not much I can do about this. As you will see, this will come up again in the same interview. People who interview me seem to be under the impression that I’m a liar when it comes to this question because from their point of view, they’re thinking well, why does he want to leave his company then. You’re making your quota every month so why do you want to leave since you have a job already. Yes, why shouldn’t I look for a better opportunity. Just stay in my job until I retire.

Of course, my answer is not going to be let me prove to you that I’m making my quota. Here. I have all the sales reports from the last year. You see, I’m not only making my quota but exceeding it. Yes, I realize that I can’t do that since that would be stealing information.

Let’s go back to what I said earlier. Why ask me this question if you’re not going to believe that I will answer it honestly? I have a lot of reasons that I want to leave my company. My salary, that hasn’t been increased in seven years. How about the fact that my commission has been cut to the point where I have lost over $30,000 a year over the past five years. This isn’t due to the economy. This is due to the fact that my employer just wanted to make changes and shuffle my territory, which more than contributed to my loss in income. Sure, I’m losing money but that really doesn’t seem to matter since I have a job and I’m going broke and I have to consider telling my wife that we have to move out of my apartment at some point in order to live in a smaller one. Of course, my company can do whatever they want because they know that I can’t work in my industry due to my non-compete agreement.

In any case, I can only say so much because as we all know, I don’t want to say anything bad about my company since we know that we’re not supposed to do that. Doesn’t matter that this human resource person will grill me for more information and I’ll end up having to admit this in any case.

The interview continued and the human resource person said that this is a junior level position and it sounds like I can be considered for it. It will be an inside sales position where I will deal with lawyers. Wonderful news. I should be able to consider taking a $10,000 - $15,000 cut in salary if they want to hire me.

So, the human resource person leaves and after about another 20 minutes, a a woman walks in. She’s the person that would be my supervisor if I managed to get hired. No reason to ask me any questions since the Vice President of Sales will be coming in next. Let’s just shoot the breeze for another 20 minutes and she can tell me how she met with 50 candidates over the past two weeks and she is exhausted now. Then she is gone and nearly half an hour later, the VP comes in.

So the questions begin and the first question is why do you like sales so much. Nice question to ask someone who is 21 years old and just graduated from college. Very impressive. I’m twice as old and a few years as well but that really doesn’t matter. I mean, here I am, giving this guy my resume with all the sales that I made along with the types of accounts that I have worked on such as law firms and the fact that I have closed business that has amounted in $50,000 to $100,000 a year if not more and this is the first question. I shouldn’t complain too much since this is a junior level position and I have over 15 years of sales experience.

The questions continue and here is another great question.

You’ve been with your company for a long time. Why do you want to leave all of a sudden?

Yes, why do I want to leave all of a sudden when I have been looking for a job for more than 6 years. Can’t say that though because he’ll wonder why I’m looking for so long. No, better to ask this question and figure that no matter how I answer this question, the answer to the question is already clear. There is a problem and I’m not making my quota and I’m afraid that I’m going to get fired.

In any case, the VP did give me a chance to answer important questions such as how I dealt with other law firms and how I closed business for my company. These law firms were listed on my cover letter and resume. I was prepared and gave him the stories behind this.

As far as the rest of the interview was concerned, the questions were about my company. What kind of product it was? What types of clients did I work with? If anything, I felt that I was giving more of a sales presentation or a Q&A on my company and their products but I found out at the end of the interview that there was a reason for all this.

As the interview ended, I asked the big question. Do you have any thoughts, concerns, or reservations?

Here, he smiled, then clapped his hands together. “Well, nothing crazy Ron. I had looked over your resume and thought that your qualifications didn’t really match what we’re looking for. My feeling is that our product is multi dimensional and your product isn’t. I’ll think about things though.”

I tried to answer this objection by saying that I have worked with law firms in the past again but that didn’t seem to do any good based on this answer that he gave me. In any case, the interview was over. He left without even shaking my hand, telling me I know the way out.