1: 5/23 Thurs. – Phone Interview with recruiter:
It was supposed to be quick, but it ended up being 30 minutes. Nothing major, just “tell me about yourself”
2: 5/24 Fri. - Phone interview with recruiter:
40 minute interview, with official questions "what motivates you", "what are your strengths", “what skills do you think will help you succeed here” etc. If she/he (in my case, she) she will call you the next day and say she will move you forward with an in-person interview.
3: 5/29 Wed. – In person Interview with VP of Small Business Sales:
In person interview at the ADP office, with the VP and he liked me off the bat. Mentioned that my sales background was very strong and ended the interview promptly by saying "I’d love to have you on board".
4: 6/3 Mon. – Ride Along
My ride along landed on Monday which is the day “Roll Call” is done. It is the day associates mention their sales, scheduled appointments, and forecasts. That day a manager announced her maternity leave*.
My partner for the day was supposed to take me on a sales call to see how and see the services pitched. I was supposed to hand out business cards, offer sell services to a client, visit a bank for possible referrals from the personal banker, etc.
Unfortunately, none of that happened. She was feeling sick and to top it off her appointment fell through. My ride along consisted of a delicious sushi meal and with pointers about what to say during my mock sales pitch. Her and I then returned to the office and was then approached by a manager asking if I could come back another time for the mock sales pitch because they had an important meeting.
5: 6/7 Fri. - Interview with 2 SBS Managers & Mock Sales pitch:
Upon arriving I was given a packet to review services to recommend during the mock sales pitch.
Interviewed with two females, spoke a little about myself, my failed ride along, myself, and then finished off with the mock sales pitch. They both had smiles saying they liked my sales pitch, the form in which I properly asked questions, and adequately recommended products, asked/closed the sale. Interview ended and I felt great about it again. Now it was a matter of waiting for the final verdict…zike.
6: 6/19 Wed. – Interview with NEW SBS manager:
The next Monday, I was informed by the recruiter that I did well, the managers were happy with it. Here’s the bad news, yep another interview. I had to interview with a new manager because who I was going to work under was going on maternity leave (part 4*). I However I had to wait several days because the new manager was transferring from Texas to California. Interviewed and again the same questions. He was concerned about my commute being an hour and thirty minutes, but I reassured him I wasn’t concerned about it. Interview ended and I felt great about it again.
7: 7/2 Interview with another VP of Sales:
Yep, another interview. The last manager I interviewed with (part 6) recommended a branch that would have a lesser commute time. What a nice guy. A different recruiter mentioned she would take over my application and tell the other VP of Sales that I had already been through the whole hiring process, mentioned all my 6 visits to the office, my long time in even trying to get hired since May 24th, and that it would be a “…walk in the park. Just talk to him and introduce yourself”. She apologized for the hiring that took place and mentioned that hiring at ADP typically takes 1-2 weeks. She mentioned that she was very surprised they dragged me around for so long.
Interview again with the same questions. Interview ended and I felt great about it again.
8: 6/5– Email:
“Thank you for interviewing for the position of Assoc District Mgr with ADP. After careful consideration of your qualifications in relation to our current staffing requirements, we have decided to pursue other candidates that more closely meet our needs.”
Are you kidding? I went through 2 phone interviews, 8 visits to 3 different ADP branches, 4 in-person interviews with 2 VP’s and 3 regular managers, yeah 5 different people, a failed ride along with someone that taught me nothing, paid $12.50 each time for parking (total: $87.50) to a particular branch, plus gas, and cut short. The comments by the recruiters and managers alike “your mocks sales pitch was awesome!”, “well I don’t know what you told him, but the VP loved you”, “your resume is strong”, “You’re pretty much in after all these million interviews” for nothing? I even emailed back the recruiter asking what went wrong, but I wasn’t even worthy of a reason why.
ADP dragged me around since May 24th through July 5th, that’s right it’s 42 days (6 weeks), where I could have just landed another job. I got mislead by the recruiters and managers alike. I wanted to complain to ADP’s HR, but there’s really no point. What are they going to do--give me the job out of pity? No thanks.