Total Process:
1. LinkedIn direct message from the HR recruiter to me
2. Phone interview with HR (1 person, phone screening essentially)
3. In person interview with HR at Slalom office (2 people, conversational)
4. In person interview with a consultant at Slalom office (1 person, conversational, past work and company lifestyle centric)
5. In person lunch with a consultant near my office (1 person, conversational, upcoming project-centric)
6. Phone interview with a consultant (same day as in person interview, spoke a lot about backgrounds and company culture)
7. Phone interview with people manager (lead consultant)
8. Phone call with offer, discussed terms (2 people from HR)
I was reached out to via LinkedIn to set up a short phone interview with Aubry from the phx talent acquisition team. I spoke with Aubry for about 15 minutes on the phone to discuss our backgrounds, why she landed at Slalom, their culture, and the consulting gig she believed I would be a good fit for.
She set up a next interview at the Slalom office in Oldtown (Scottsdale) with herself and the lead phx talent acquisition person, Shane. We spoke for about an hour at their office.
I brought a packet of work examples to use during the interview as proof of various skills / experiences, but they were more interested in speaking with me conversationally. I asked questions about the projects their company was currently working on and had worked on. (developed Starbucks app, lead partner for Salesforce, big projects with tmobile, AWS top partner, etc. - definitely cool techy strategic consulting projects)
They spoke about their retention rate last year of 100% among consultants and my jaw sort of dropped. I've worked in a variety of start ups and small offices (less than 100 employees) and most of them happen to have high turn over. But this place is growing and retaining all their people. Impressive.
They walked me through a bit more about the specific project they wanted to hire me for. Asked me if it sounded like something I thought I would be interested in (and it was). They said they'd want me to interview with some of their consultants next, but it was after 5 PM and the office was dead. We set up time a few days out, initially set up as a happy hour, but due to scheduling changes on my end, we ended up meeting at the office again. I met with Brian, one of the UI/UX designers and we looked through my mockups I had done before, and talked about the project he has been working. Another really nice back and forth natural conversation- not a drill of interview staple questions.
Brian then set up another interview, a lunch near my office, with another consultant, Danny, who was working on the project I was supposed to join. We ate a nice lunch, spoke about the gig, and generally got to know eachother - familiy, friends, hobbies. He told me at the lunch that he thought I would be a great addition and he wanted me to speak with his partner on the project who was out of town at the time. He set up a call with Franz and we spoke that evening for about an hour.
After speaking with 5 different people (all 5 of which I liked enough to hang out with, which is pretty much never the case if you do 5 interviews with a company) over the course of a month and doing a lot of research on my end about their pay, culture, respect in consulting industry, etc. I decided I was in.
They offered one more call to speak with one of the people managers at the office (not mine, who was out of country on PTO), Ken. We spoke for about an hour and he reiterated the culture and the people and the projects. He also gave me time to ask any questions I had.
Aubry and Shane (talent aquisition people) called back with a scheduled lunch call the next day, asked me if I was still interested, then we spoke terms and agreed on salary, starting date, etc.
Pros:
-They were upfront throughout the process, constantly communicating with me, before even finishing the interview, that they wanted to continue the process and why.
-Prompt in all communication
-Accommodated my schedule and timing needs/asks throughout
-were upfront about payscale and offered me a reasonable salary with good PTO, solid benefits,
-nice office, good location, great people (honestly)
Cons:
-401k match takes a year and is only 1.5% - not great, but not too bad
-Personally, I had a good amount of PTO for seniority at my old job, so I lost a day compared to last year. Next year it will be the same since Slalom adds a day for every year also.
Overall - everyone I spoke with took pride in their work and their company. They all seemed confident and *relaxed*. It was an enjoyable interview process.
