I found Impact Networking at Purdue University's Spring Career Fair. I attended an informational session first, then had an interview the next day, at Purdue. The first interview I didn't do too much preparing, other than a little company research and reviewing my notes from the info session. A little less than a week later I got invited back for a second round interview at the corporate headquarters in Waukegan, IL. I was so excited, I reviewed two interview books I had recently picked up, did a lot of research and practice, and also contacted one of the managers who had first interviewed me for some helpful tips for the second interview. I must have worked for three days straight going over tough questions, and also thinking of good questions to ask in return. There was a Technology show a few days before my interview I decided to attend to get a better idea of all the different services etc., where I ended up meeting most of the sales reps from the Waukegan office, and also the Sales Manager (who was going to be interviewing me). Even though I didn't know everything, I felt like this sounded like a really cool company that I definitely wanted to work for. Anyways, went to the interview a few days later, it ended up being really easy, probably for a couple reasons (I spent so much time preparing, and also I had already met my interviewee, so it wasn't so scary), and I ended up liking Impact even more. The final step of the interview process was a Ride Day - where I shadowed one of the other sales reps for a whole day, and got some actual hands on experience out in the field working with customers. I loved it! I got the job, and have been so happy here ever since.

Recruiter: I was first contacted by a recruiter who had pulled my resume off of my college career site. She expressed interest in pursuing me as a candidate, so I agreed to a 1:1 interview 1:1 Interview: The interview went really well. I was able to have all of my questions answered while I was in the interview as well. The branch manager was a very likable individual who was very easy to get along with. To my knowledge, he answered all of my questions upfront and truthfully. Day in the office: As a sales consultant with Impact, the workload is intense. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but for that pay, you really should be doing something else. A day in the office consists of making cold calls... all day! By the way, the office is your region, which mean, you go building to building knocking on doors and annoying receptionists. The interview was fine and the day in the office was also fine. The fact is, I just didn't feel like you were fully compensated on the amount of work that you would be doing.

They came to do on-campus interviews at my University, which is where I first met the Recruiter. Next, I was invited an Open House of sorts, where I met a few of the employees, and other candidates. After that, I had a 1-on-1 interview with the Hiring Manager which was super basic, generic questions about sales, handling objections, and all of that other stuff. They were extremely misleading about what the company focuses on (copiers). There were promises of huge commission checks and high-margin software sales, when in fact, it's just guys selling copiers for a living. The last part of the interview is a "Shadow Day," where you basically just follow a salesperson around and watch them cold call. If you are still interested after this (most aren't), the job is yours. The base salary is about $28k, and don't expect to make more than $2-3k TOPS in commission your first year. Also, since turnover is so high, every territory has been cheery-picked by the guys who have been there for a few years. The accounts that are left have also already been ruined by poor salespeople in the past. If you look at the average tenure there, it's not good. In fact, their most successful reps have been leaving the industry, since it's shrinking pretty quickly. If you do take the job, begin looking for an exit as soon as possible, and stick around for at least a year if you can. However, more likely than not, you'll be shown the door after a couple of months.