There are 3 WebEx Interviews before you are invited to the Assessment Center at their offices in Egham (just outside London, right next to Heathrow airport): 1) The purpose of the 1st interview is to assess your knowledge about what Gartner does (see Gartner 101), why you are interested in sales, and your personal strengths (accomplishments, previous experiences, etc). The interview lasts approximately 30 minutes, which includes questions from your side at the end and throughout the interview. 2) The purpose of the 2nd interview is to assess 4 different personality traits: executive presence, clock speed, pathway to gold, and will to win. Executive presence means your ability to communicate and articulate yourself effectively at a professional level. Clock speed means your ability to listen carefully and adapt quickly to new information, your agility basically. Pathway to gold means your ability to implement structures to achieve your objectives. Will to win means your drive to achieve your objectives. You will be asked about previous experiences where you demonstrated these traits. Again, you will also be asked about your understanding of Gartner's business (see Gartner 101) and why sales and Gartner appeal to you. The interview lasts approximately 60 minutes, which includes questions from your side. Always ask good / relevant questions about the company / the role. 3) The purpose of the 3rd interview is to assess the 4 different personality traits again + a role play (discovery call with a prospect). In essence, the interviewer will again ask questions related to the 4 different personality traits. They relate to your previous experiences and your ability to demonstrate these traits with examples from your past. At the end, there will be a role play. The interviewer plays a prospect (e.g. a CMO who is looking to increase sales or achieve any other business objective). You are supposed to use the time (approx. 15 minutes) to learn as much about the business and their challenges as possible. Be aware to open and close the call effectively. Build a personal rapport at the beginning and close the call with a summary of what you have discussed and next steps (follow-up call with a Gartner research analyst, date and time). The whole interview last approximately 90 minutes, which includes questions from your side. Again, ask good / relevant questions about the company / the role. 4) The Assessment Center. 4.1) Morning Session. The morning will begin with a small breakfast where you have the chance to get to know the other candidates as well as colleagues from HR and the SMB team (account managers, area managers, senior vice presidents, and the managing vice president SMB). After that, there will be an introduction and agenda for the day where everybody introduces themselves and their roles at Gartner. Then, you and the other candidates have approximately 5-10 minutes to present themselves (your background). You will also be asked to talk about your greatest personal accomplishment and which famous person you would like to have dinner with (and why). After that, you will have your first interview of the day (with 1 recruiter and 1-2 sales managers). Again, they will assess the 4 different personality traits (lasts approx. 45-60 minutes). At the beginning of the interview, you are asked to deliver a 3-minute pitch on ‘Why sales and why Gartner’. 4.2) Lunch. There will be current SMB account managers. You can ask them questions about the role and the company. 4.3) Afternoon Session. After lunch, there is a ‘Gartner articulation’ session where you will learn more about the company. In your second interview of the day, you will be asked to demonstrate your knowledge about the company and their business. The purpose of the second interview (with 1 recruiter and 2-3 sales managers) is to assess your understanding of the company, the role, and your personal fit. At the end, there will be a role-play (again a discovery call). The role-play will last 30 minutes. Your job is to learn as much as possible about the prospect, their business objectives, and current challenges. The prospect will now likely be a typical Gartner customer (technology vendor or end-user client). Again, remember to open and close the call effectively (build personal rapport, summarise findings, and agree on next steps).

The interview process was composed of five steps. 4 steps were interviews on the phone with recruiters, steps number 3 and 4 including a little sales role-play. The final step was in person in the Barcelona office with the recruiter that was there since the beginning of the process, a manager and the VP of sales. Overall, the process was very smooth and I was very well accompanied receiving constructive feedback (very helpful!) from the recruiter between each step. They really want you to do well and give you all the info you need to succeed. Special thanks to Roberta !