Heartland Food Products Group Interview Questions
& Process

I met with HR first, who was great. Then I met with the CMO and she was fantastic. It was a bit easier on the interview side but very fair and she asked good questions. The next round, I was paired with a sales guy and a senior director who used to work at a competitor of Coca-Cola. The sales guy was fine and fair. The senior director, however, was completely obnoxious. At least four times, he asked me to go back and elaborate on the same previous question. It was completely unorganized. I could tell immediately that the expectations between this group and the CMO were NOT aligned, but that's not my problem. These two were looking for very specific experience, which they will have a hard time finding, versus my conversation with the CMO and the job description. What I found to be very rude and unprofessional is when the senior director was asking me indirect questions to learn about a former employer I worked at to get some inside intel. He asked very specific questions on the sell-in side. Very rude. I withdrew after that interview.

The interview process was pretty standard. I had two phone interviews and then an on-site interview with a group of people. The office was nice, but empty, like a ghost town except for the five people I met. It didn't feel like the culture I wanted. The interview questions were easy, but it seemed like not all the interviewers knew what role I was interviewing for, asking questions more suited for a junior position. They seemed worried my corporate training would make me not fit the hands-on nature of the role and then told me I wasn't strategic enough. Instead of asking strategy questions, they seemed to want insider info on my previous employer. The role is still open after three months, so they either don't know what they want or have unreasonable expectations. I feel bad for whoever takes the job.

I was contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn. They asked about my background, gave me some company info (which wasn't totally accurate), and set up a phone interview with the new VP of Ops, who was just starting. Apparently, this is a confidential search since there's no job posting, and they said they're in the early stages. It's been over 4 weeks and still no posting. I pushed the process along because my kids are starting school soon and I'd have to move, but I think that put them off. They decided not to move forward, which is fine. The recruiter offered to get feedback, but it's been two weeks and they've ignored my texts and a call. The recruiter experience was bad even before the phone screen; we scheduled a week out, but I didn't get the interviewer's name or any info until 24 hours before, and only after I asked. Recruiters should respect candidates' time.

The interview process for this position took 3 official rounds. The first one was with the HR representative, the second with hiring managers (I had 3 sit in during this interview), and the last one was with the president. My experience was very pleasant and very conversational.