Packback Manager Interview Questions
& Process

I applied online for the Experience Manager role and spoke with the Customer Experience Manager. It was a conversational interview where she asked open-ended questions about my experiences and values to see if they fit with Packback's. She mentioned I was moving on to the second interview, which would be a roleplay with an Experience Manager. I was given resources to prepare. Before the roleplay, I considered my background in sales (4 years experience, sales startup, Victory Lap, SDR/BDR experience) and observed some red flags about Packback's sales culture. Former salespeople left negative reviews on Glassdoor. The Experience Manager team had classroom experience but no professional sales experience outside Packback, essentially being educators who sell to educators. Their business model involves selling to professors, who pass the cost to students, meaning the buyer and the user were different. Despite these flags, I proceeded with the roleplay because I liked the mission and people and believed my sales background could be valuable. I successfully completed the roleplay and discussed my use of the Sandler methodology. The Experience Manager hadn't heard of Sandler, felt I should have asked more personal questions to the customer during the 10-minute roleplay, and stated they don't allow customers to say no. I received a rejection email the next day.

The interview process was pretty standard. It started with a recruiter call. Then there was a phone interview with someone in the role. The next part was a back-to-back in-person interview block. This included an interview with the manager and supervisor for the position, and then another interview with the CEO, Mike.

The interview included a preliminary 30-minute phone call that mostly covered situational questions about your past experiences, values, and interests. Following that, there was a 30-minute customer EM role-play where you'd act as the Customer Experience Manager, simulate a call with a client (like a professor), figure out their issue, and explain why Packback is the best solution for their course.