How I used InterviewX to prepare for my interviews at Clearbit
The launch of InterviewX last week was timely for me, because as fate would have it, I‘m going through my own job change. Like any job change, interviewing has played a central and defining role in that process.
After 2+ years at Slack, I’m excited to share that I’ve accepted an offer to join Clearbit as a sales manager! Clearbit is an amazing company with an insanely bright future. One of the big reasons I was interested in the opportunity was to pursue a leadership role, and to have more strategic responsibility- at 60 people company wide, and 10 people in the sales org, this core group will be building a ton of new processes from scratch.
There were a few other factors that made me feel like Clearbit would be a can’t miss opportunity, and that I should seriously consider interviewing there despite being extremely happy at Slack. I want to address that thought process quickly because I think these are typically the buckets I think about, and would advise others to think about, in making a big career move.
Buckets to consider in evaluating an opportunity:
(in no particular order)
- Leadership & Culture:
I love Clearbit’s leadership team- they invest in the growth of their employees, they have been able to retain significant control of their company (and thus, control their own destiny), and they’ve created a work environment & culture that is irresistibly fun - Familiarity with the team (and with your new boss if possible):
I’ve worked with several of Clearbit’s sales leaders before at Dropbox, and they happened to be some of my favorite coworkers. I also had gotten to know the Clearbit team socially (including a stint on their intramural kickball team- league champs 🏆 baby), and knew that I loved being around them. - Intellectual interest in, and personal connection to, the product:
I am extremely interested in marketing tech- working on InterviewX has opened my eyes to how valuable it is to understand how to use a marketing tech stack. Understanding how to create exposure for your product, and how to optimize movement through a marketing funnel, is massively valuable to someone (like me) who now runs an internet business. This is core to Clearbit’s mission. - Belief in the company:
As a new employee, you become an investor in that company or brand whether or not you have equity in it. From an investment perspective, I believe Clearbit’s growth potential is huge. I saw Clearbit as the marketing engine of the future- a product that can make it easier to ingest and make sense of your (B2B) website’s inbound interest, and a product that can make it far easier for sales reps to go outbound. - What’s best for your family:
My little brother works there- the chance to work with him and coach him was too appealing to not take extremely seriously. Compensation is the other part of this equation- you should do everything in your power to not accept an offer if you feel uncomfortable with the compensation being offered. - Personal Career Growth:
The chance to lead, hire out a team, build out my own strategy, and meaningfully contribute to the strategy of the sales org was important. In short, the problems I’d be asked to solve in this role were the exact problems I wanted to solve at this stage of my career.
The reason I outline these factors is not to seem self-congratulatory, it’s to highlight the fact that I saw this as a uniquely perfect opportunity for me, and one that checked every single box on my wishlist. Essentially, I saw this as an opportunity that I couldn’t afford to mess up in the interview process. That’s where InterviewX came in.
Using InterviewX
As it became clear that I wanted to pursue a role as a sales manager at Clearbit, I started to build my InterviewX study guide so that I’d be prepared for the interview process.
Below, you can read the exact five page Lightning Guide I made for myself, which took me about 40 minutes. To make this study guide, I simply created an InterviewX account, chose the free “lightning” plan, and clicked “lightning guide” below to get started. (When you finish the section and save, you’ll see the checkmark.)
Keep in mind that in completing the InterviewX exercises, you’ll get our guidance and best practices around what makes for a strong answer. The study guide below is the result of that process, and does not include the context or tips you’d actually find in-product. Here is what the exercise looks like as you’re going through it:
Again, the Lightning plan is completely free, so you can create this exact type of study guide for yourself with the free (lightning) version of InterviewX!
If you’d like to upgrade to the Standard or Premium plans, you can create the longer and more in-depth version of this study guide, which would be a (roughly) 20–25 page study guide.
Here’s what my lightning guide looks like, slightly edited to make sure these details are ok to share publicly:
InterviewX Study Guide Best Practices
The first thing to note here- in creating this study guide, it’s best to use short phrases, and quick answers- you don’t need long answers at all. The purpose of this is to get thoughts on paper before you walk into an interview, and bulletpoint-type responses accomplish that perfectly.
Okay, I made this study guide. Now what?
Once I made this lightning guide, I was able to visualize the main questions my interviewers would have for me, how I would respond, and the main examples I’d be able to use in order to support my points.
It became clear that they’d want to understand when in my past I had been responsible for the success of others, as well as times I had been responsible for hitting ambitious revenue goals. This lightning guide helped me to remember and identify those specific examples ahead of time, and as a result, I was prepared to share them successfully in my interview.
It also helped me prepare my “personal pitch,” which helped me answer the following: “why you, why this company, and why this role?” Most people go into interviews without thinking through these questions, and it can turn interviewers off if it’s clear you haven’t given thought to why you think this is a special opportunity and a perfect fit for you.
Again, the lightning guide is a lightweight approach to all of this- the full study guide goes far more in depth.
Here’s what the full study guide main menu looks like:
If you’d like to generate this same type of study guide…
Visit InterviewX.co- the product is live now! Additionally, if you’re interested in interviewing at Clearbit or learning more about the company, feel free to reach out to me at mike@interviewx.co.
