I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Toast Inc (Orange, CA) in Jun 2022
Interview
The interview process is extremely lengthy. I made it to the final interview with the VP of the territory. Below is a breakdown of the 4 step interview process:
1st interview: phone call with a recruiter
-Recruiter gave mixed feedback throughout the process and didn't prepare or fully explain expectations prior to interview steps
2nd Interview: phone call with Sales Manager with Toast Go2 Pitch
-District Sales Manager gave very positive feedback throughout the whole process with little to no critiques
3rd Interview: video interview with Sales Manager again along with updated Toast Go2 Pitch with a marketing strategy and prospecting plan for a restaurant in your area
4th Interview: video interview with VP with updated ToastGo2 pitch and updated marketing and prospecting strategy
-80% of our call was focused on my current job and not at all on the research or preparation I had done for Toast. He only wanted to test my cold calling abilities as opposed to evaluating my actual research and preparation for the job I was interviewing for. VP focuses more on objections rather than tackling customer obstacles, which is a very dated way of thinking about sales.
I'm extremely disappointed that I made it to the final round interview only to be told by the recruiter that they wanted to hire someone with more restaurant experience. I'm not sure why they wouldn't have mentioned that earlier on in the interview process. From my end, it looks as if they've gotten a free pitch along with a free prospecting plan from me in a territory that they are currently working. I put in multiple days of research and work while working a full time job, only to be told at the final interview that I didn't have something basic that should have initially been discovered during my recruiter interview.
Overall it's a decent process if you have the time to commit to it, but at the end I was never given any sort of constructive feedback given the amount of time and work that I put into it. Not only that, I reached out to both the Manager and VP for a thank you and feedback and got no response. It's a terrible way to treat people that take the time to interview with you.
** Important note**: after being dismissed from the interview process, I applied for another Toast role in a completely different area and was told by the recruiter that because this would be under the same VP that was for the other role, I couldn't interview.
Happy interviewing!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Standard sales behavioral questions throughout the process.
Super sweet recruiter- they mentioned 80-100 cold calls a day. I would have moved forward but the KPI's seemed out of touch. The recruiter was overall very helpful. Seems to be about a 3 step interview process.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about yourself and why sales interests you
The interview process consisted of four rounds: a recruiter screen, a hiring manager interview, a mock sales exercise, and a final interview. Overall, the process was well organized and professional.
I invested a significant amount of time preparing because this was a role I genuinely wanted. Unfortunately, I was not selected to move forward to the third round. Based on my experience, I believe my limited direct sales background was the primary factor, although the feedback process was respectful and transparent throughout.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
Describe how the quota was set up from your last job, and at what percentage you hit your quota?
I did an initial phone screen for an AE role. The recruiter showed up a few minutes late but I didn't think much of it. We had a nice conversation and they mentioned they'd like to move me forward. I didn't hear anything for a week or so when they reached out saying they had been swamped and would schedule me shortly. They reached out a 2nd time saying the internal schedule was busy but they'd get something on the calendar soon. Then I received an auto rejection. Not a great experience, it just made the company look extremely unorganized.
We appreciate you sharing your experience and are glad the process felt organized and professional. Best wishes ahead!
Toast Inc response
5d
Thank you for sharing your experience. What you've described here does not match the candidate experience we aim to provide, so we will be sure to share this feedback with the team. We wish you the best with your job search!