I was reffered by a friend who works in the marketing department, I have a strong marketing background, but this was a merchandising position - something I had little experience with. Yes I would have needed some training, which T-Mobile does do, but I felt as if they were giving me this interview as a favor since a TMOB employee recommended me.
It started with a phone interview from HR, basically saying that I have no where near the experience I would need for this job - but I should tell him why I thought I was right for this position (he was the gate keeper) I did a very good job convincing him, so he set up a 2nd phone interview with the hiring manager later that afternoon. Same thing, basic interview questions, "what are your strengths and weaknesses" and again, I had to convince her that my lack of merch experience wasnt an issue.
She then schduled an in-person interview with her (one on one), then she scheduled be for a second in-person interview the next week - this took two and a half hours and I met with 9 managers!! It was brutal...I could tell they were all hesitant due to my lack of merch experience, my answers were all well formed and thought out, but I could tell that nothing I said would change what my resume had on it...pretty cruel to put me through 4 weeks of interviewing when they could have just looked at my resume.
