Forrester Account Manager Interview Questions
& Process

I interviewed with Forrester from January to February 2024. A Talent Sourcer found me on LinkedIn because of my sales and market research background. Even though I saw negative reviews and a low rating on Glassdoor, I agreed to talk with their recruiter. The company has good products, but it seemed like they were going through changes employees weren't happy about, and a common complaint was lack of diversity, which my research suggested was valid. My interviews were pretty easy. The recruiter and I discussed sales roles, and we agreed the Senior Account Manager role could be a good fit, as it involves working with VPs and C-Suite for Fortune 1000 companies, which is what I do. They mentioned the job requisition wasn't open yet and they were in preliminary stages. After waiting about a week and a half, I interviewed with the hiring manager, who then had me meet with her manager, the VP. I asked the VP about his vision for the sales organization due to recent changes. All my conversations were enjoyable, and we took time to build rapport. The questions for the sales role didn't require much thought, and I'm not sure what they learned from them. In between my interviews, the recruiter mentioned they had a lot of people interviewing due to tech layoffs and preferred candidates living in Cambridge, MA, even though I'm in the Southeast. They had approached me for these sales jobs. I wasn't moved forward, and another candidate was offered the role, which didn't surprise me. The timing of the news was surprising, coming shortly after my second interview. Since there were two more steps (meeting Account Managers and a presentation), they likely had a candidate selected before my interviews. The job requisition wasn't even opened until days after my first interview with the hiring manager. My second interview with the VP was 9 business days after my first interview with the hiring manager. I suspect I was part of the process to show DEI efforts. I also believe that for current sales roles, offers will likely go to unemployed, non-minority candidates. The good news is that two days before I was rejected, my current employer promoted me and gave me a raise. My advice to DEI sales professionals: Interview at Forrester if you have the time, but don't be discouraged if you aren't selected. Find a company that values your background. Company culture and inclusion matter. Good luck!

I went through 9 interviews for the AM role over 3 months. First, they told me verbally I made it to the final presentation round. After following up multiple times, the recruiter didn't respond for 6 weeks and then said the position went to someone else but there was another AM role. I had to restart the process. Again, they verbally said I made it to the final presentation interview. I followed up multiple times, and still no response after 2 months. I expected better from Forrester, given how time-consuming the process is, and it's disappointing to not even get a courtesy call about next steps. The recruiter really dropped the ball.

Applied online and then got a call from a really cool recruiter. They set me up for a phone interview with the hiring manager. I spoke with the hiring manager for about 30 minutes, and they asked the same redundant questions like 'walk me through your resume?'. Almost a week later, I never heard back, which is not good news. The recruiter mentioned they chose a retread sales guy with industry experience and an internal candidate, which is crazy. They really liked my background but had to pick two. I had no idea they had internal candidates. I will never apply again.