Back-channeling during interview - who do you trust?

I'm lucky enough to be in the interview process with several of my top companies. 2 them are younger (Series A or B - yeah I know, I know. I'm vetting the hell out of them though. So much so that I think Braintank and UrAss would be proud).


I'm back-channeling with current AE's to hear about the good, bad, and ugly. Also, trying to do this with ex employees who were on the sales team (I hope all you savages know Linkedin's feature on how to find this).


So my question is for those that have done this during the interview process before. Obviously, I'm trying to take everything with a grain of salt.


But how have you discerned good feedback vs. bad feedback from an ex employee's experience?



(one of my stories thus far: talked to a rep who was at a Series A and they said they were let go due to Covid. That same day, I talked to the longest-tenured rep at the same company and I overtly asked him if reps were let go due to covid - he said no one was, was always other issues. Sketch!)

🤝 Interviewing/Offer
6
E_Money
Big Shot
3
💰
Sounds like the dude who was let go because of "covid" maybe just sucked at his job and can't take responsibility for it. 
bandabanda
Tycoon
1
Senior AE Mid Market
Exactly what I thought.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
3
🦊
You don't really know. You're gonna have to trust your gut instinct. 
bandabanda
Tycoon
1
Senior AE Mid Market
For sure. Probably just overthinking it.
hocktony
Big Shot
2
smileNdial
How do you use LinkedIn for this, im unaware there was this feature? (Besides typing in the company name + AE/sales, and clicking on those who pop up)
bandabanda
Tycoon
2
Senior AE Mid Market
Works best if you have Premium. I was running into issues not seeing people on the free version frankly.

1. At the search bar at the top, type in any company. 
2. You'll then see options like "Peoople",  "Companies", "Jobs" etc. 
3. Click People
4. On the far right side of the options at the top, you should see the words "All Filters." Click that.
5. A window should appear with advanced filtering options.
6. Scroll down until you see "Past Company."
7. Type in the name of the company. The results will find people that have that company still listed as a previous employer on their LinkedIn job section.

Just want to say that back-channeling has helped a little bit, but what I've found more helpful is finding the longest-tenured sales reps that have been on the team and asking them for a candid, off the record conversation. They've been willing to share the good, the bad, and the ugly. The previous employees just share the ugly pretty much (in most cases, haven't found an employee who said they enjoyed their time but it was just time to leave).
hocktony
Big Shot
1
smileNdial
Fantastic, this is so valuable, thank you very much.

I hope all the folks who ever ghosted you in 2021&2022 flood your inbox today!
bandabanda
Tycoon
2
Senior AE Mid Market
Glad I could help! Could be a great tool for getting into your target accounts on the sales side too I guess. 

The feature you mentioned (by clicking people on the company page and clicking "What they do" -> Sales...that's how I find long-tenured reps. I just scroll through that, open all the AE's profiles and starting connecting lol. Most people respond positively to a blind connection request!

Haha God bless you
fidelcashflow
Catalyst
1
Account Executive
Sounds like you don't know these people right? It's tough to make a judgment there. Not sure what the incentive is by lying to someone you don't know but clearly I'd put my money on the first person lying. 

My experience here has always been people at the company say its dope and then everyone who is no longer there has the shittiest things to say about the company. 
bandabanda
Tycoon
0
Senior AE Mid Market
Yup. Exactly what I’m experiencing.
Lioness
Good Citizen
0
Sr Field Enterprise Account Executive
It's probably all true. The people who've stayed either didn't experience the same negative things or didn't find them to be dealbreakers.
fidelcashflow
Catalyst
1
Account Executive
Sounds like you don't know these people right? It's tough to make a judgment there. Not sure what the incentive is by lying to someone you don't know but clearly I'd put my money on the first person lying. 
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