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Interview Question: Tackle This Question!

Azurik

Azurik

Platinum Member
I've been to a bunch of interviews this past year and feel very comfortable at it. As some of you know, I have received several offers, but not a lot of them interested me long-term. I have an interview tomorrow, however, that I am definitely interested in. I founded an internet start-up company some time ago that was very successful, and got this e-mail from a friend of mine who referred me to this position. How would you tackle this?

I interviewed with nine separate people and bascially when I got to the third person it was the same questions and the same answers. There are no curveballs, I did talk to the recruiter today and told him about you. His biggest concern was if you were going to remain loyal with the company after being an entrepreneur and I told him that you called me a couple of weeks ago asking about [company name] and seemed to have developed a desire to work for a big corporate company and he liked that...but just be on the lookout for that question. Definitely suit up and give me a call at (xxx) xxx-xxxx after your interview to let me know how it went. If you have anymore questions let me know. Best of luck and you owe me dinner. Talk with you soon.

EDIT 3/4 12:16AM: I talked to the recruiter the day after the interview (today). He stated they were very impressed with me and will extend an offer out this upcoming Monday. He further stated that I would be very happy with the offer and not to interview with anyone else, haha.

UPDATE 3/18: Well, the offer has changed. The hiring manager thought it would not be challenging enough given my credentials and personality.

Since then, I have interviewed for two other finance positions within the company. The first one I interviewed with three people. All have excellent evaluations, but again, said I needed more of a challenge. They talked amongst themselves and other department heads to see how to best position me in the company.

In the end, they opened up an entirely new finance position in their Missile Defense Center for me. I interviewed with a few more people, and got the job yesterday. The offer letter came today.

Great salary, great benefits and fantantic advancement opportunities. Took 10 months since graduation (May '05) and multiple job offers before deciding this was the right position.
 
Ok, I will personally call the person with the best examples as an incentive to reply to my thread😉
 
I would say. "Yes. I am looking for a long-term position with an established company that offers excellent benefits and a great potential for growth."
 
Originally posted by: Azurik His biggest concern was if you were going to remain loyal with the company after being an entrepreneur [/i]
Click to expand...

So now you're biggest concern is finding a company where you can stay for a career. That's what you tell this guy anyway. 😉

One has to watch out for places that seem overly concerned with making sure people are going to stay. Employees stay in good environments that pay well, and they bail like rats from miserable he!!holes where they work for slave wages. It's not some weird personality quirk that makes workers leave in droves, it's because a place sucks to work at. If it's a good job that pays well, they generally don't have to worry about people leaving.

Now it may be a good job and folks might be bailing for an even better one someplace else, but that seems unlikely. Either way, you should check out the turnover rate. You might even grow a big pair and if he says something like "I'm concerned that you will leave the company after a short time" get a concerned look and reply with something like "Do you have many employees that have quit in their first year?"
 
Originally posted by: TGregg
Originally posted by: Azurik His biggest concern was if you were going to remain loyal with the company after being an entrepreneur [/i]
Click to expand...

So now you're biggest concern is finding a company where you can stay for a career. That's what you tell this guy anyway. 😉

One has to watch out for places that seem overly concerned with making sure people are going to stay. Employees stay in good environments that pay well, and they bail like rats from miserable he!!holes where they work for slave wages. It's not some weird personality quirk that makes workers leave in droves, it's because a place sucks to work at. If it's a good job that pays well, they generally don't have to worry about people leaving.

Now it may be a good job and folks might be bailing for an even better one someplace else, but that seems unlikely. Either way, you should check out the turnover rate. You might even grow a big pair and if he says something like "I'm concerned that you will leave the company after a short time" get a concerned look and reply with something like "Do you have many employees that have quit in their first year?"
Click to expand...

Point well taken, friend. This is a pretty reputable company though, and not the first one to be concerned with that. I had several people who were impressed with my resume, but were concerned with my retention. ::shurg::
 
I'll never forget one interview where I flew hundreds of miles on my own dime to interview at four companies in a place I wanted to relocate to. The interiewer at one of them worried aloud whether he'd pay to relocate me only to see me quit and go work someplace else.

I crossed that company off my list immediately. If he's worried enough about it to bring it up in the initial interview, then there must be better places to work. 🙂
 
Depending on how old you are, (mid-20s right?) you can tell them that you had your "fun" and "gained experience" with your own business, but now that you have made a bit of money from that, you are interested in joining a "team" of people with an established company and you want to settle down as your become older. You could even make a light-hearted comment like "internet businesses come and go, but the U.S. will always need missiles."

Above all, make sure you know about the company and its history. Maybe even read a book or at least some internet articles about it. Get a good feel for where they came from, and where they are headed. Talk about how you are excited about the future.

I would not sound too greedy about pensions and health care, but you could mention them too.
 
Question for you Azurik, would you maintain your own business on the side?
 
While I enjoyed the experience of being an entrepreneur tremendously, I don't have a desire to pursue that a second time. What attracted me to it initially was the opportunity to start an internet business at a time when the barriers to entry were practically non-existant, and the concept I had could be developed without a lot of capital.

I achieved my goal in that area, and decided to move away from it. What I learned through that experience is that one of the areas where I excel is finance. I've decided to pursue a career in finance in order to maximize my contribution to a larger organization. And the other skills which I developed in my earlier business - leading a group, working on strategic goals and developing action plans to meet them, and most importantly, understanding how finance can greatly contribute to meeting overall business goals - will ensure I will be a valuable asset to your organization.
 
The concern came from the "Recruiter" who's worry is if he places you and you skip before a year his commision gets whacked. You just need a story to convince the recruiter you love this company and have always wanted to work for them, etc..., etc..., to motivate him to put you in front of the hiring manager. Once you get to that point, the hiring manager will question you skills and work ethic not if your going to hang around.
 
Excellent answers guys, I'll take some ideas in the posts. I'll keep you posted. Now who wants the personal phone call?!?
 
I'm not falling for that, dude. I know what would happen... it SEEMS like a nice personal phone call, and two weeks later a $25,000 consulting invoice shows up in the mail! 😛 🙂
 
EDIT: I talked to the recruiter the day after the interview (today). He stated they were very impressed with me and will extend an offer out this upcoming Monday. He further stated that I would be very happy with the offer and not to interview with anyone else, haha.
 
UPDATE: Well, the offer has changed. The hiring manager thought it would not be challenging enough given my credentials and personality.

Since then, I have interviewed for two other finance positions within the company. The first one I interviewed with three people. All have excellent evaluations, but again, said I needed more of a challenge. They talked amongst themselves and other department heads to see how to best position me in the company.

In the end, they opened up an entirely new finance position in their Missile Defense Center for me. I interviewed with a few more people, and got the job yesterday. The offer letter came today.

Great salary, great benefits and good advancement opportunities. Took 10 months since graduation (May '05) and multiple job offers before deciding this was the right position.

YAY!😀
 
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