Sales and Marketing Job Interview Series

Over the past week I have been invited to interviews for a Sales and Marketing job, my first interview was on Thursday in which I made it through to the second round and was invited to the second interview which took place today.

Initially, I hadn't applied to the job myself- the employers actually found my CV through Reed.com and emailed me asking whether I'd be available for an interview as they felt that I matched a few of the different roles that they provide. At first, I wasn't really sure what this job involved or what the company was even about, but I took the interview offer as I have always been interesting in the marketing and branding side of Graphic Design and it is something that I would possibly go into in the future.

I felt that going to this interview as well as the second interview would help me learn a lot more about what a sales and marketing job can involve and felt that it would be good experience for the future.

The first email they sent:

The first interview was more chatty and more of a 'get to know me' sort of vibe, I was also able to ask questions about the company and what they do. The company is called 'Hegemonic Enterprise' and they are based in Leeds, their main aim summed up shortly is basically to help small and large businesses boost their sales and gain a larger audience, they achieve this through direct marketing (face to face) and indirect marketing (advertisements, radio, billboards etc).

After this I was invited back for a further interview in which they mentioned that they would take me to a sales event which would show me what the job could include if I wanted to go into that sort of role. This interview was from 9am-3pm.

Before the second interview, I had more of an understanding of what roles this job could include and generally what a sales and marketing job consists of, however I still wasn't sure on what I'd actually physically be doing on a day to day basis as so many roles were mentioned.

Email inviting me to the second interview:

When arriving, I really didn't know what to expect so I was open to whatever I would have to do throughout the day. At this interview, another applicant and I were taken to a sales event with one of the management team members in Huddersfield. 

However, this day confirmed that this job wasn't for me..

The issues:

• The first issue was that getting a placement over summer working as a Graphic Designer for a company was my main priority as I actually have an interview for one on Wednesday
• The job was full time
• This job generally didn't feel right for me 

Throughout the day, the leader explained more about the company, what they do, how much you can earn, the different roles and the marketing strategies...However, when we were at the event, the other applicant and I were left for most of the day to answer questions in notebooks, the questions included 'list your strengths and weaknesses', 'come up with a business plan and how you'd execute it' and to 'execute a product in 5 steps (intro, short story, presentation, close the sale and consolidation)

Overall the day felt very long and repetitive. Also the 'sales event' wasn't what I expected, the manager basically sat us in a shopping centre in which we answered these questions whilst she was downstairs trying to market the brand 'Shell' through direct marketing- this is something that I wouldn't enjoy doing.

Also, the manager mentioned how much can be earned monthly depending on your role. However, she mentioned that you can progress from a distributor/sales and market team which earn £1200-£1500 to a project manager which earn 50k within the space of 12 months- this all felt a little bit too fishy and almost too good to be true?. Another thing that raised concern was that the other applicant hadn't directly applied to the job either; the company also contacted him first which sort of implies that they're just in desperate need for new staff ASAP perhaps.

Breakdown of how much you can earn
depending on your role- build up process

Overall, I felt that this was a good experience as it will help me in the future if I am interested in similar job roles and I also felt that I have a clearer understanding of what a sales and marketing job could possibly involve. I also feel that turning down jobs can often be a good thing as it shows that I actually know what I want, instead of job taking the first job that comes to hand.