Republic Services Sales Representative Interview Questions
& Process

I applied online and right away got a candidate number and a heads-up that a recruiter would be in touch. The recruiter called me for a quick 15-20 minute phone screen. Then, I had a face-to-face interview with the Sales Manager and HR Manager the next week, which was a bit tough and lasted about an hour. Everyone there seemed experienced and it felt like a good place to work. I got through that and had another face-to-face interview a week later with the General Manager who oversees multiple states. He was great, having started as a driver and worked his way up. This interview was mostly about convincing him to hire me. At that point, there were only two candidates left, including me. I sent thank you emails throughout, but the recruiter was really hard to reach, often out of the office and taking days to respond about updates. It took five weeks before I contacted the HR manager directly for a status update. She responded the same day to let me know they decided to hire an internal candidate! It took them five weeks and me chasing them extensively (declining two other job offers because of their positive feedback and perceived interest) to deliver this news. I was very disappointed with how it was handled, feeling misled and frustrated by the poor communication, especially after having high hopes due to the GM's positive impression and my desire to work for him.

I had a phone interview with the local Sales Manager that lasted about 15-20 minutes and covered some basic questions. A few days later, I was invited for a face-to-face interview. When I got there, they informed me there would be two panel interviews. The first panel included the Sales Manager, HR Manager, and Area Manager, and they asked pretty basic questions while taking notes. The second panel interview was with the local General Manager and Area VP. It felt like a lot for a sales position, and the interview was quite disorganized; the GM and VP seemed unsure of what to ask. Two weeks later, they re-posted the job opening for a Sales Representative. I got an email from the HR Manager stating they were interviewing additional candidates. All this for commercial waste removal? They never gave clear compensation details, which was odd.

The first step was a call with HR. She didn't know much about the role other than it was for a Major Account Sales Rep focused on new business. Next, I spoke with the Sales Manager, who was very sharp and outgoing. He explained the training for the role in detail, mostly talking about himself while I listened. He mentioned an offer would be coming, pending a drug test. I turned down the offer because the company had just merged and things were uncertain. I'm sure things have settled down now.