A few weeks ago, I had an interview with a smart home security system company for a sales internship position this summer. The interview started out by the man, I will call him John, asking me why I wanted this internship. I answered his question, and then he asked me if I had ever worked in sales before. I again answered his question. This was the end of the interview. It was startling and slightly disconcerting to me that John only asked me two questions and then proceeded to offer me the internship. I realized that while I was trying to sell myself to him on why I would be a good candidate for this internship, he was also trying to sell me on why I should take this internship. By not getting to know me and giving me the opportunity to get to know his company, he shot himself in the foot. I left wondering what was wrong with this internship that made it so easy to get, and he left not knowing if I actually would be a good candidate for this internship. I believe that had he taken the time to ask me more questions and give me the opportunity to learn more about the company, I may have been more inclined to accept his offer. It is ironic to me that this man was the regional sales director for his territory, and yet he made no effort to sell me on his company and didn’t give me the opportunity to sell myself.
Also, this was a door to door sales internship, and he told me that the expectation is that each intern sell one of these smart home security systems a day by just knocking on people’s doors. This seemed unreasonable to me, since this system costs thousands of dollars, and you do not know if any of these people want or need a security system.
BoweryJE22
I had a similar interview with a company near Pittsburgh. They asked us two questions, then handed us a personality test and said if our results matched what we were looking for, they would call us back for an interview. However, they tried to sell their company more than trying to get to know us so how would they know who to call back?
This is an interesting situation. It does not sound like the best company to be with if they do not want to get to know you, or help you get to know them. I think you made the right decision to look for another option.