- First, thank you for taking the time to write a review. Getting feedback can be invaluable and can help us to have greater insight into many different things! - Here’s a step-by-step overview of the process we went through together, which was standard for all interviewees. After these points, we will go through your feedback, point by point. - Part of your application process was to complete a sales-based questionnaire we put together for all applicants to the AE positions. This helped me to choose you from the flood of applications. - Meeting one, on 14th July 2023: I am a firm believer in making sure the role, company history and where we are today, benefits, reasons for hiring (such as our recent funding), number of new hires, and all things important to a potential employee. As I mentioned emphatically, we need to make working for ChartSquad appealing. It’s not just about you trying to prove you’re worth hiring. - During this first hour-long meeting with you, the second half of the meeting was all about you asking as many questions as you needed to and wanted to. This was to help you judge whether or not it was worth you giving up more of your time in order that I could spend that time asking about you in the second interview. - The other reason for just letting you speak was that, as I discussed with you, I learn a lot about people from letting them speak and ask questions. Interviewees asking the right questions usually gives me a lot of answers to questions I have. Allowing you time to speak and freely discuss things you wanted to know about can tell me a lot about salespeople, specifically. - At the end of this initial meeting, we both agreed to chat again a few days later, on July 17, 2023. - In the interim between the first and second meeting you sent me more questions, which I took time to answer as best I could. We spent the start of the second interview discussing these questions in more detail. - We then spent time discussing your work history and each of the roles you worked in that are relevant to a sales position with ChartSquad and what skills from those roles would be transferrable to an Account Executive position in the sales team. - We then discussed how we would compensate you for successful sales and how the commission would be calculated. - You said you were interested, I said I’d like to make a tentative offer based upon a successful background check coming back. Your background check came back on 8/7/2023. There was a delay due to the many places in the United States you have lived. - I know that the part that was, understandably, not convenient for you was the following. While awaiting your background check, we made an internal decision to tweak the process for hiring. Improving the hiring process for ALL hires is important for everyone and will have benefits for the candidates we interview. When I explained this to you on 7/25/2023 and advised you that there unforeseen delays added to the initially discussed 8/7/2023 start date, You emailed back stating “I definitely understand. Please remove me from all future considerations.” - You were then removed from the talent pool, as you requested. - With all that said, the feedback we receive does need to be accurate. You have a couple of things correct in your review, among many inaccuracies. We totally understand that you probably have been through a lot of interviews, we’re all fallible and that’s OK. Let’s go through each of your points and make sure to address everything accordingly. “I had previously worked with start up companies and experienced the two sides: a start up company in full growth mode and a start up in stagnation. Although I grew immensely at the start up company in full growth mode, the problems I faced at the stagnant one made me vow to never work at a startup company again.” - I’m sorry that you had a hard time at previous employers. It’s totally understandable that this could potentially cause you to land on the side of negativity when it comes to seeking new employment. This is the entire reason for the hiring process and working environment we have and are continually improving. - ChartSquad is far from a startup, though. Small business? Yes. We have been in operation since 2012. We’ve been self-funded that entire time and have been building a great reputation in our market and have steadily grown each year; all without a sales team! “Start ups are extremely fragile, lack organization, and most importantly, funding.” - OK, we covered the ‘ChartSquad is not a startup’ bit. - We have defined processes and organizational structures for pretty much everything. - We do practice CSI (continual service improvement), and this means that things change. Things need to change to get better. Reviewing how we do things then improving to get better outcomes is essential. - Funding – this was a key part of our discussion and, as explained in detail to you, was in fact the entire reason we are hiring a sales team! ChartSquad has partnered with Cypress Growth Capital you can see us right here in their portfolio: https://www.cypressgrowthcapital.com/portfolio “ChartSquad meets the criteria.” - As outlined above, we don’t seem to meet your criteria. “There were two rounds with the same person for the sales role, and although his personality was good enough to make me reconsider (I didn’t know it was this small of a company when applying), I soon could realize the red flags in his answers." - Thank you. I pride myself on treating people with respect and providing full transparency. It usually makes life a lot simpler! “Not knowing exactly how many AEs and SDRs they would be hiring,” - I explained we were hiring three SDRs and 2 AEs, but we were considering hiring 3 AEs. “only meeting with one person within the organization for the interview process,” - This is one of the things we are changing. As I mentioned, it was likely that we may introduce you to one of the other members of the SMT. It’s good to get a second opinion. Sometimes it’s possible to miss positive or negative personality traits that can change the outcome significantly. “and giving out an offer within the interview itself.” - A tentative offer based upon background check and internal discussion isn’t all that abnormal if you are speaking with the decision-maker. - Signaling that we appreciate the candidate and their skills, advising that we’re interested in hiring them, and being completely transparent at every point would normally be considered a positive. Your time is valuable. - ChartSquad is trying to avoid being one of those potential employers that string you along for weeks with no insight as to what is going on. Complete transparency helps us all make better decisions. “As stated, I received an offer within the interview, and a week later received an e-mail stating that the founders were looking at the hiring process and there could be delays. While this definitely made me upset,” “and was inline with what I knew to be true about start ups and the disorganization.” - We’re not a startup 😊 - We’re really rather organized “I was also really puzzled about how a 18 employee count company could afford a small sales team that would cost them $300k annually (and this does not include the promise of double commission structure.)“ - This was from the part where I explained the recent funding from Cypress Growth Capital - It was fully explained that we were scaling up and, while we had excellent growth in the past without a sales team, the level of growth we are moving to has determined that a sales team is needed and would exponentially increase revenue generation (a big win for all) - Commission comes from selling things. From generating revenue. A salesperson would normally understand how this works. You sell, you generate revenue, we give you a cut of that revenue - #winning - If I didn’t tell you how many we were hiring, how would you guestimate the cost of a small sales team’s salary, sans commission? “Anyways, I would steer clear. Red flags within the interview process could also lead to bigger flag during employment (i.e.: getting laid off within months of joining an organization, etc.)” - As I mentioned before, I am sorry that previous negative experiences have potentially skewed you to have a negative outlook when things don’t go as you expected. - We’re sorry that the delays on our side made you upset, totally not our intention. Changes happen, and we’re making changes for positive reasons. - I and the team sincerely wish you all the best in your next role.