I found Impact Networking at Purdue University's Spring Career Fair. I attended an informational session first, then had an interview the next day, at Purdue. The first interview I didn't do too much preparing, other than a little company research and reviewing my notes from the info session. A little less than a week later I got invited back for a second round interview at the corporate headquarters in Waukegan, IL. I was so excited, I reviewed two interview books I had recently picked up, did a lot of research and practice, and also contacted one of the managers who had first interviewed me for some helpful tips for the second interview. I must have worked for three days straight going over tough questions, and also thinking of good questions to ask in return. There was a Technology show a few days before my interview I decided to attend to get a better idea of all the different services etc., where I ended up meeting most of the sales reps from the Waukegan office, and also the Sales Manager (who was going to be interviewing me). Even though I didn't know everything, I felt like this sounded like a really cool company that I definitely wanted to work for. Anyways, went to the interview a few days later, it ended up being really easy, probably for a couple reasons (I spent so much time preparing, and also I had already met my interviewee, so it wasn't so scary), and I ended up liking Impact even more. The final step of the interview process was a Ride Day - where I shadowed one of the other sales reps for a whole day, and got some actual hands on experience out in the field working with customers. I loved it! I got the job, and have been so happy here ever since.

They came to do on-campus interviews at my University, which is where I first met the Recruiter. Next, I was invited an Open House of sorts, where I met a few of the employees, and other candidates. After that, I had a 1-on-1 interview with the Hiring Manager which was super basic, generic questions about sales, handling objections, and all of that other stuff. They were extremely misleading about what the company focuses on (copiers). There were promises of huge commission checks and high-margin software sales, when in fact, it's just guys selling copiers for a living. The last part of the interview is a "Shadow Day," where you basically just follow a salesperson around and watch them cold call. If you are still interested after this (most aren't), the job is yours. The base salary is about $28k, and don't expect to make more than $2-3k TOPS in commission your first year. Also, since turnover is so high, every territory has been cheery-picked by the guys who have been there for a few years. The accounts that are left have also already been ruined by poor salespeople in the past. If you look at the average tenure there, it's not good. In fact, their most successful reps have been leaving the industry, since it's shrinking pretty quickly. If you do take the job, begin looking for an exit as soon as possible, and stick around for at least a year if you can. However, more likely than not, you'll be shown the door after a couple of months.