I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Salesforce (San Francisco, CA) in Oct 2017
Interview
In short,
1. networking event put on by Salesforce
2. 1 hour onsite (2 SMB hiring mangers v 1)
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3. Brief phone screen (more of a interview prep)
4. 1.5 hour onsite (2 BDR reps v 1, 2 BDR managers v 1)
Process was quick. After attending their event, I was invited onsite. The one hour onsite was a chronological resume review with a huge focus on my college experience. note: I graduated over 5+ years ago and to take 1/3 of time to discuss this seemed pointless. I wasn't sure if this is to measure EQ, but anyways my recruiter prepped me well and gave me a cheat sheet what to expect. Also the hiring manager happened to work at a previous company I worked at briefly so we discussed my time there more so than my current role, which I had been at over 4 years. For not having my previous company on my resume we spent a long time discussing a role that doesn't translate or speak to what I could bring to this role, which again seemed pointless to dive into as much as we did. After the first onsite, both hiring managers recommended I continue the process for BDR instead of SMB based off their assessment of my background and I was ok with that. I came onsite and met 2 BDR reps with little to no energy. They didn't get me excited about the opportunity here and made it out to be a constant grind. I appreciated the honestly and not sugar coating the role, but after meeting the team and going through the process, I didn't want to feel like a cog in the machine. Salesforce is a massive company and offers excellent cookie cutter sales training, but upward mobility is not as easy here compared to a midsize company, which is what I went with.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Walk us through your resume, starting with your college.
I had a really positive experience interviewing for an Account Executive role at Salesforce.
I was referred by an employee and assigned to a specific hiring manager who was incredibly supportive throughout the entire process. Every stage was well-structured — I was provided with clear expectations and even examples of questions, which allowed me to prepare properly.
The timing between interviews was very reasonable (about 1–1.5 weeks), and communication was consistent. The hiring manager stayed closely involved the whole time and was genuinely helpful and professional.
Although I didn’t receive an offer and understand I wasn’t the best fit for this particular role, I’m very grateful for the level of professionalism, transparency, and support I experienced throughout the process.
Tough process. Multiple interviews with final RVP on different teams. They didn’t seem interested, almost like they already had an internal hire ready. Waste of time it seemed, oh well.
The process has three stages: first, a recruiter screen; second, an interview with the hiring manager; and finally, a panel presentation as the last round in the overall interview process.