Outsell (Minneapolis) Interview Questions
& Process

I went through 3 interviews and made it to the final one. I asked about the travel requirements and salary, but they never replied about the salary and rejected me. The salary question not being answered is a big red flag for me. I wouldn't have taken the job anyway because they expect more than 3 days of travel per week.

If you interview at Outsell and don't already live in or near Minneapolis, be aware that they will expect you to travel there at your own expense for an in-person interview—with no guarantee, of course, that you'll get a job offer just because you do that. Such was my experience. I bought last-minute plane tickets (to the tune of $600+ of my own money) to fly to Minneapolis for an in-person interview the very same week I was moving cross-country. I was there for less than 24 hours. They didn't offer a Skype or FaceTime video interview as an alternative, and they didn't offer to reimburse me for my travel. I really wanted this job, so I agreed to it nonetheless. No, they're not *required* to do either of those things. But if they truly respect the time and resources of people who apply to work for their company, it seems they would do at least one. Or, barring that, they should only consider applicants who already live in or near the Twin Cities. (I've since received a job offer from another long-distance company who agreed to do interviewing via Skype video, and that worked out just fine.) So my word of caution is this: Undoubtedly a lot of job seekers are drawn to this company because they see that it gets good ratings on Glassdoor as a place to work. That's all well and good, but it's only part of the story. The other part is the level of basic respect they show to people who demonstrate interest in working there. Reasonable people may disagree about whether companies should offer to reimburse interview travel costs or make alternative arrangements for long-distance applicants. In any case, you deserve to know up front that Outsell does neither. Based on that info, you can make your own judgment.

The interview process felt really unorganized and communication was bad. It took about a month and had 3 interviews, plus a 4th interview that got scheduled and then canceled last minute. The first interview was supposed to happen, but they sent the Zoom link to the wrong person, so I had to take off work *again* for it. I think they asked me to reschedule and they told me when the hiring manager was free, so I rearranged my work schedule. Then, after I'd already moved my schedule, they told me the hiring manager wasn't available at that time anymore. I finally got to talk to the hiring manager, and she seemed okay but low energy, didn't seem passionate. I got the impression she was overworked, but I have a lot of energy and knew I could help her. She told me the salary, which was surprising since I'm interviewing with other tech companies in the US and the competitive salary is double what they offered. But since it was remote and salaries are usually negotiable, I figured it was worth a shot to keep going. She seemed to think I was a good fit, and I heard back quickly about moving to the next stage: 3 more interviews with 3 different people. Again, I rearranged my work schedule for these. In the second round, the interviewer seemed nice, but I don't think she really got to know me based on her questions. However, I did learn about some issues she was having, and I explained how I'd solved similar problems in my current job and could do the same for her. In the third round, there were surprisingly two people on the call, and I wasn't told about the other person beforehand. It would have been nice to know so I could have prepared to meet with them. The fourth interview was scheduled, but 20 minutes before it was supposed to start, I got 2 emails: the first canceled my interview, and the second said I wasn't selected for the job. I tried calling them because I couldn't believe they canceled my interview so close to the start time and were so inconsiderate. I also emailed HR but haven't heard back in several days. It's crazy because I sent thoughtful thank you emails to everyone I met with, and got no response. I don't understand why they didn't know a few hours earlier that they weren't going to select me. If they had told me sooner, I could have at least worked a full day instead of taking time off and losing money.

I was first contacted by a staffing recruiter to arrange an interview. I made my way downtown and waited at the entrance. I then met with two managers and an HR representative in a meeting room. They asked me common interview questions and were all very friendly. The next day, my staffing agency informed me that I was being offered the job.