Sooo this is the 4th month of being out of work interviewing.

Question

In one of the interviews I got to the panel stage and they asked me to present a topic of my interest, and being the reckless fool I am I decided to present about one of the company’s products which I’ve sold something similar in the past, thinking this will impress them. As soon as the Sales director that was interviewing me saw it, he said he's only seen 4 people do this in his 18 years interviewing career, and all 4 have failed (so much for making me feel even more nevrous than I was). Anyway, I carry on confidently presenting but somewhere down the line he asks me difficult questions which I failed to answer right, and like that I blew my chances with that company and moved on. Yesterday, I was at another panel interview where I was asked to present about the company's platform, a space I've got no knowledge about and they expected me to know all the features and benefits which I found really strange and for my lack of knowledge in that space I kept my presentation high level as I didn't want to start talking about things I knew little about in the fear that the same thing happens to me again!! (btw I also got rejected after doing the presentation as I didn't have enough knowledge).

My question to the war room, is this a common knowledge that you shouldn't choose to present about the company you're interviewing?

Thank you in advance

My question to the war room, is this a common knowledge that you shouldn't choose to present about the company you're interviewing?

Thank you in advance

Accepted Answer

You stack the chips against yourself when you do this. They're always going to know more about it than you. Although it sounds like these people were particularly cruel to grill you on features.

Answer

Yeah, two months ago I interviewed with an AI company that was a direct competitor to a company I had previously worked for. So I knew the space, the technology, the use cases, etc. I was assigned a 30 minute discovery call/presentation role play. They sent me a bunch of slides (out of order, many duplicates, some not relevant information, etc.) and I was to arrange them into a presentation to a company of my choosing. I thought I crushed it, and the VP of sales (supposedly) wanted to hire me, but the CEO felt that I "didn't do a deep enough dive" into the platform during the presentation. Two previous guys they hired apparently weren't very good and he didn't want to make a mistake again. They ended up hiring no one.

In the past, I've been assigned discovery calls, or demos of my choosing. Which I vastly prefer over presenting someone else's product that I'm essentially doing a mock pitch using nothing but slides, product unseen.

Answer

You have to stop accepting assignments point blank and instead send them a detailed RFI. You want to deliver unto them exactly what they are desiring.

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You should be asking about their product and who they target during the process. You have to view the interview process as a sales process. But yes, don’t try to sell them their own product…ever.

Answer

You live and learn. Next time talk about a hobby or passion.

Answer

Sorry, but I am a bit confused with the wording of your question.

Answer

Yo interviewing today is fucking wild man

Answer

I hate it when company's ask you to present on their product. Its a no-win situation.

Answer

Not sure it's common knowledge, but practical to say the least....if given the option to present something you are interested in...run with it. Why? You just learned the hard way...if you don't have complete command of the content your presenting, your going to fail at objection handling..and if your not getting objections, your not selling e.g. your prospect is not seriously considering the content your delivering to begin with.

Answer

A typical Buyer-Seller presentation dynamic is that the seller knows more about the material than the buyer. Fundamentally flipping that dynamic is breaking the process (and purpose) a bit.

Answer

Sometimes its just a no win. I once chose to present a company's own product to its CRO because I knew the space and killed it. Got "Clearly you're well researched and you've done more than a few online demos. I have zero criticism!"

I didn't get the offer. They fired the CRO and promoted an internal unqualified type to save money.

Answer

Correct, that totally sounds right to me!

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whenever you have to present I am automatically skeptical of the company. In my eyes you are only setting me up for failure when you ask me to present about your company

Answer

Sort of sounds like they use this tactic to weed out people.  Maybe they are looking for inside candidates but can’t say that.  Maybe they are looking to trip you up.  Either way, I don’t know if I’d want to work there.

Answer

It’s hard to be the expert when you haven’t sold their product.

Answer

I have had to do a presentation (and possibly DEMO) of a company product I was interviewing for as a Sr. Sales Engineer (Pre Sales) role, and they required candidates to present/demo their solution. I put together a Power Point presentation with key talking points as if I were actually selling their solution and configured their solution best I could with limited knowledge. Did the presentation which was ok, no issues... then moved along to the demo portion and did okay based on their use case. I didn't click on 'everything' during the demo and was never shown a demo (nothing on Youtube), so I did my best to figure out on my own. When I was done they did a full panel 'critique' (yes really) and challenged me as to why I didn't click on this and that and what I thought of how I did.. geez!! Given no one ever showed me anything and I was left to my own devices, I thought it wasn't a bad job!!! Needless to say I didn't get the job which ends up being fine by me with their interview tactics and how they treat people during that phase! I feel you should be able to do a presentation and demo on something you 'already' know to be able to showcase your presentation skillset.. after all that is what they are after knowing. IMO it is super WRONG to expect someone to know their solution in and out in a few days prep to go back and present/demo to their team. YES as someone mentioned they will always and obviously know their offering and we the candidate are very limited. I don't mind a presentation/demo and I have that capability all setup of something I know. Again, I think it is totally WRONG and UNFAIR to ask a candidate to present their offering with no upfront guidance, etc. Just sayin.. and yes it's not fun on the job hunt these days. If you do not need to.. I would recommend 'not' trying to do their solution during the interview stage unless it is a requirement. AND if they start to challenge on what you didn't do in their opinion think about whether or not this is a company for you... most reasonable hiring managers are not like that! If you can, stick to something you know and dazzle them that way.

Answer

If you agree to present submit the preso to them ahead of the presentation date to "have them check for accuracy and errors" then send it back to you. Then that's what you present! You can say that's the only way you feel comfortable pitching a product sight unseen.

Answer

That sales director sounds like a dick. I'd consider yourself lucky that you won't be potentially rolling up to him. I'm not a hiring manager but choosing the company's product to present on sounds ballsy to me. Obviously you're not going to have all the answers but it shows intangibles I'd seek out if I were putting a team together. Ultimately, unless this company is like the dream job/product, I think you dodged a bullet. Good luck moving forward

Answer

ugh you are scaring the shit out of me. I'm about to have to do the same with limited information. Gonna try to weasel out of it I guess???

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I also think that he sounds like an asshole. But maybe a view from his perspective:

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Interestingly, one of the steps I require before hiring a sales person is for them to present to me about my company. I like that approach because it shows how well someone can profile an account and prepare, how the candidate can build an argument that teaches and challenges the way a buyer may be thinking about a topic, and if the person has the grit to complete a hard task. I also offer a 30 minute prep session with me as part of the process so I can see if they take me up on it (if they don't the candidate is crazy), and the types of profiling questions they ask...this is super valuable to me.

Answer

Not sure that it is common knowledge. But presenting something to a group of "experts" about that topic is always difficult. It's like if you worked at a company and had to present to your colleagues. You know they know the product as well as or better than you so you are more nervous.

Modro

Sooo this is the 4th month of being out of work interviewing.

39 comments

Modro

Sooo this is the 4th month of being out of work interviewing.

39 comments

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