The first step is the "Recruiter Phone Interview." This is a very simple interview. The recruiter (from ADP) wants to A) make sure you can speak to your resume and B) assess your sales skill set. After he/she is sure you possess the minimum skills and education required they will set up a phone interview with the "Divisional Vice President" of Sales.
I was told to be extremely prepared and that the "DVP" that was interviewing me was very sharp and would try to throw me curve balls and such. Well, I happen to be a very good interviewer, and I found this interview the easiest of the lot. The DVP wanted me to walk her through my resume and explain each former position; salary, duties, achievements, and most importantly..... why did leave. She also wanted me to explain what the "value proposition" for TotalSource is and to give her what my strategy would be if I was offered the position.
After this, the recruiter will call you to set up a "face to face" with the hiring manager(s). I had to set up an interview approximately 10 days later in the Parsippany Regional Sales/Service office in New Jersey. That particular sales office has 2 sales teams for TotalSource and they usually interview candidates at the same time and then decide A) if they want to offer the position and B) which team that candidate will join.
My interview with the Co-Managers was a pretty standard interview, with the exception of a couple of things. First, they wanted me to explain why I was in the job market. What led me to TotalSource. How do I prospect and find leads. After finding a lead, how do I conduct/run a sales call. As I said, pretty standard stuff. They then threw a curve ball at me. They gave me a marketing collateral slick and told me to study it. I know it by heart today, because after I accepted the position I learned that this is the most popular marketing slick they use. However, at the time, it is a lot of information to absorb in 2 hours. Anyway, they gave me the marketing slick and then told me I was going on a "ride along" with one of their sales reps. I could use this time to ask him questions, study the marketing slick, experience a sales call, and learn about the TotalSource PEO solution. I went on the ride along, and learned that the sales rep that I accompanied was the worst, THE WORST, sales person on planet Earth. I thought maybe I was being hard on him, but after I began to work there we went on a couple more calls which confirmed my initial belief. Anyway, back to the story.
Upon returning to the office, I was told that I would have to do a role play. I would play the role of a TotalSource District Manager on a sales call. For their part, 1 manager would pretend to be an ADP payroll client interested in learning about TotalSource, the other would pretend to be invisible while she graded my performance. Here's where the curve ball comes into play (you thought the role play was the curve ball? NOPE, I expected a corny company like ADP to do that). You would think that a company that provides you a marketing slick with a ton of "Product Information" immediately prior to a role play would want you to express and regurgitate the information you had just studied, right? WRONG! Anyway, I conducted the meeting and tried to state the facts that I had just learned in a conversational manner, similar to how you would in a sales call. I was told right after the presentation that my sales call was too "TACTICAL." You will hear this constantly at ADP TotalSource... They will tell you that your first sales call needs to be Strategic in nature and the second call is the Tactical sales call. Anyway, I explained why I was so "TACTICAL" (talking about the different product features and benefits and how they would impact the client) and they said, they really liked the role play, but I would have to "reattempt it" the next day over the phone. This time, I was told to be more "STRATEGIC" in nature (THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A HUGE RED FLAG THAT ADP IS A COMPANY THAT I WOULD NOT WANT TO WORK FOR). I made the call the next day and delivered what they were looking for. I was made an offer the next day and accepted.
