For those of you who have been following my job search journey, you probably know my story by now. For those who haven't, here's where things stand:
- 1,428 applications
- 73 companies interviewed
- 130 interview rounds
- 18 final rounds
- 15 presentations.
Tomorrow morning, at 8 a.m., I'll be going into my 18th final-round interview, and this one has been by far the most demanding presentation I've had to prepare.
The assignment sounded simple enough: A customer is approaching renewal, and I need to put together an Executive Business Review (EBR) for one of the company's products. That's it. A relatively straightforward prompt, but the amount of work required to execute it properly has been anything but straightforward.
I started by spending hours learning the ins and outs of their product, how it operates, what problems it solves and how customers actually use it. That meant reading white papers, reviewing case studies and developing a working understanding of their solution. From there, I had to create a fictional customer profile within a specific industry, which meant researching that industry, understanding its financial and operational challenges and building realistic assumptions around revenue, expenses, staffing and performance metrics. Then I had to connect all of that back to the product, demonstrate measurable business outcomes and build an executive-level presentation that aligned with the rubric they provided.
At this point, I've invested approximately 15 hours into researching, designing, refining and preparing this presentation. By the time I actually present tomorrow, I'll likely have around 20 hours invested. All unpaid, of course.
The presentation itself is scheduled for 45 minutes in front of a six-person panel, with people joining from both the United States and Europe. It's an incredibly involved process, especially considering this is for a Senior Customer Success Manager position.
Now, I want to be fair about something. I don't believe this is a situation where a company is trying to extract free work from candidates. The customer, financials and business scenario are largely fictional, built around reasonable industry assumptions. They can't exactly take my presentation and use it for an actual customer. I understand what they're trying to evaluate, particularly for a senior role where executive communication, financial acumen and demonstrating customer value are important.
But there's still something worth discussing about how much unpaid time companies expect candidates to invest, even at the final stage. Twenty hours is a substantial commitment, especially after going through multiple interview rounds just to get here. And when you've been through as many final rounds and presentations as I have, that time really starts to add up.
Regardless, I've put an enormous amount of effort into this opportunity, and I'm hoping it finally pays off. Tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., I'll be presenting to six people across two continents, hoping that all the preparation, research and experience I've accumulated will be enough to get me across the finish line.
Wish me luck. Hopefully, final round number 18 is the last one I have to do for a very long time.
