Spoke with European Recruiter. Very professional. Spoke with VP Sales via phone. Seemed pleasant enough. During the interview realized I might not have the technical acumen they were searching for. Spoke with RSM the next day to "get a feel of what to expect". Red Flags almost immediatly. Let's just say NOT very enthusiastic about the anything. Feeback I received was "If we choose to move forward please read up on our products and technology. I thought fair enough, even though it was 48 hours from the time I first spoke with the recruiter and my last phone interview. I responded that I appreciate the feedback and intimated in no uncertain terms that if they're looking for a Sales Engineer, I'm not your man. The following Monday night I was asked to be in Utah for a Wednesday afternnon interview. (I live in Boston).....I was responsibile for getting a flight, a hotel, and transportation to and from the airport to headquaters (70 miles away). Now I've done this before but with this time frame not even an email to suggest a hotel in the area...not to mention I had to front the entire trip......Again no big deal. I read the glassdoor reviews and what I saw was a strong technical company with poor US upper management. Boy did I find that out the hard way. Now I have 20 years experience in highly technical embedded sales but I spent hours studying up on everything Susa, their competition, their werticals, etc...I even called an Engineer I knew to go over about 30 questions I had. I was never more prepared for an interview/meeting in my life........The interview lasted 25 minutes......15 of it regurgitating my resume to the other person in the room who I hadn't spoken to on the phone. He asked one basic question and proceeded to pull out his cell phone and flip thru his messages for the remaining 10 minutes......The interview was over...It took me longer to iron my shirt. I took an hour ride back to the airport and then waited 8 hours in the airport for the redeye back to Boston. Feedback was I wasn't as technical as another candidate! I was incredulous. First they never asked me one technical question in our face to face meeting, secondly how could you have such little respect for another human beings time?? Nothing I did in Utah couldn't have been done with a 10 minute Skpe call. I then had to fill out mandatory expense receipts and wait 3 weeks to get reimbursed. I guess the lesson learned is when red flags present themselves not to ignore them .
I applied through other source. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at SUSE (Singapore) in Dec 2023
Interview
Brief. Good conversation with greats discuss and discovery of capabilities and how can one engage and contribute to the organization. Meeting was structured and multiple session with different stakeholders. Overall neutral experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Sales experience and my overall contribution to my org