Had the pleasure of working with Austin King, a Senior Sales Recruiter at Gong. I was in the process of interviewing for a Sales Enablement position but ended up accepting a different offer from another company. However, with the multiple conversations I had with Austin on the phone and via email, he has answered ALL my questions about the role, work/life balance, and his own personal experience with the company. He explained the interview process and laid out a clear direction of steps. In the search for my next opportunity, I have spoken to over 15 recruiters in the span of 2 weeks and none of them were as engaged, honest, and down-to-earth as Austin. His dedication has furthered my view of Gong and hoping to cross paths again in the future!

I am a big fan of Gong, but I must admit I was a bit disappointed with my interview experience with them. After having applied, a recruiter reached out and said they were interested in interviewing me and asked when I would be available that week. After following up with my availability the recruiter got back to me two days later and told me that, in fact, the hiring manager was busy that week and we would need to actually look at the next week. OK, understandable enough. So I follow up with my availability for the next week and we get a 30-minute interview scheduled on the books. A week later and 30 minutes prior to my interview I get a text message from an unknown number with no name telling me the hiring manager actually wouldn't be doing our scheduled video call - rather they would just call my cell phone instead. The phone call comes and I speak with the hiring manager for less than 15 minutes (it was a scheduled 30-minute interview) before they ask if I had any questions before we wrap things up. They sounded somewhat disengaged and distracted during the call - possibly doing something else - which may have been why they wanted to take this as a call as opposed to the scheduled video chat. It also felt pretty clear that there was not much interest in me for the role from the outset of our interview. To be honest, it felt as though the hiring manager wasn't interested in interviewing me or already had spoken with candidates they really liked from the week prior and at that point was just conducting a brief call with me as a courtesy since the recruiter had offered me an interview. Obviously, candidates who were allotted the full interview time via a video chat - getting to see each other - are going to be better positioned to advance vs a candidate who was given a 15-minute phone call. I can handle rejection - it comes with the territory of searching for jobs! But if I do get offered an interview and I am going to invest my time preparing and talking with the company, I do expect fair consideration. Unfortunately, that didn't feel like the case here. I think it is important that there is clear alignment between the recruiter offering candidates interviews and the hiring manager that is conducting them in terms of the types candidates the manager wants and is looking for. I still love you though, Gong! I sincerely just wanted to offer this input as honest feedback.