Posted by Anjali Kaur on Mar 13, 2022

My Interview with Sparkpath

After Vinyl, this was the second company for which I got a chance to be interviewed. In this post, I will talk about My Interview with Sparkpath.

How did I apply to this company?

I applied on Sparkpath via angel.co site, it is like a recruitment site.

Which position I applied for?

I had some sales experience from ICICI Bank, so I applied for the role of Sales and Community Coordinator.

What did I included in my cover letter?

These are the exact words that I used when I approached SparkPath:

“I would like to introduce myself as a candidate for the role of Sales and Community Coordinator at SparkPath. After living and breathing Finance and Economics for 8 years – first as a banker for 2.5 years, and then as an educator for the next 6, I am confident that I can bring my experience to add a ton of value to this position at SparkPath.

During my role as a Branch Sales Manager at ICICI Bank (one of the largest Indian multinational banks), I led a team of 10 high-achieving sales executives to open 3500 new accounts, generating more than INR 350MM. Aside from this, I am well versed in banking processes and procedures, including sales, team building to managing projects.

In 2015, when I decided to transition to teaching, I did so with an ever-growing passion to make a difference to the generation to come. In the next 6 years, I was able to rise through the classes and take on more challenging roles in multiple institutions. At the time of leaving my last role, I was the Head of Commerce and teaching Economics, Mathematics, and Business Studies to Grade 11–12, while also successfully leading multiple school branches through the transition from offline education to online, due to COVID-19.

Having achieved a certain level of success as a teacher, I have decided to step back into the sales and challenge myself once again and keep my passion for Finance alive. I believe my experiences so far have provided me with valuable, and frankly, hard-earned skills – everything from being confident, well-spoken, having empathy and self-discipline, to taking initiative and I can’t wait to contribute to the mission as a Sales and Community Coordinator.

Thank you for taking this time to review me as a candidate. I look forward to learning more about your expectations for this role once we get a chance to connect. Until then, have a great week ahead!”

What happened next?

I got selected for the first round. Hurray!

This is the message I received:

Hi Anjali,

I’m the Founder of SparkPath.

Your experience in education would certainly be an asset for this role.

I’m happy to see that you are interested in our mission of changing the way we prepare youth for their future. I’d like to invite you to the next step in the application process. I would like to invite you to complete our assessment at the following link: (They gave me a link)

Please complete the assessment by Thursday the 30th at 4 pm EST. If you complete it earlier, we will get back to your earlier. Successful candidates will be asked to join a group interview on Friday, December 31st at 12pm ET. Thank you.

First Round Questions

Activity 1 – Website Inquiry – Marion’s question
On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 3:59 PM ABC wrote:
Hi there,
As you know I am away today and tomorrow. Could you please reply to the email below and
help her with the next steps to help us get the sale? Thanks.
Best,
ABC
New customer message on August 31st, 2020 at 3:51 pm
You received a new message from your online store’s contact form.
Name:
Marion Smith
Email:
marion.smith@abc..com
Body:
Hello,
I wanted to know if there is a digital version of the Challenge Cards. Because of the
pandemic, I can’t use the physical copy of the Challenge Cards. An electronic version
would be ideal for online teaching this Fall.
Sincerely,
Marion Smith

My Answer to this question:

Hi Marion, Thank you for reaching out to SpasrtPath. I hope you’re keeping safe. The pandemic has certainly made things more difficult with Physical cards. I’m happy to tell you that we do have Digital copies of the Challange Cards! It’s definitely something a lot of teachers and students are transitioning to, especially with online studies. You can learn more about our Digital Challange Cards here: https://mysparkpath.com/pages/digital-cards Learn how you can bring the digital Challenge Cards to your school by booking a FREE demo with SparkPath’s CEO. Please let me know if you have any more questions about the Digital Challange Cards or any other SparkPath tools. Best regards, and happy learning! Anjali

Activity 2 – Customer Service Issue – Jenn’s issue
On Mon, Aug 31, 2020, at 1:22 PM ABC wrote:
Hi there,
As you know I am away today and tomorrow. Can you please get back to the person below as
quickly as possible? Also, propose a course of action as to how we can deal with this?
Best,
ABC
On Mon, Aug 31, 2020, at 1:11 PM Jenn D. jennd@practice.co wrote:
Subject: Issue with the mobile version of the app
Hi Emma,
For some reason, we can’t access the PDF results when we do the card sorting on a mobile
device. Does it look like the download pdf button is squished? Please advise.
We ran into this problem today and we have another presentation tomorrow.
Jenn

My Answer to this question:

Hi Jenn, I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with downloading the PDF – That’s definitely not the experience we’re trying to create. I’ll do everything I can to make sure you’re ready for your presentation tomorrow with time to spare! Before we begin troubleshooting, I would like to tell you that I’ve already let our technical team know about the issue. It’s marked as high-priority and will be rectified at the earliest. Now, to solve your issue at the earliest, we have a couple of options: Option 1: I can confirm that this particular issue is only occurring on an Apple iPhone. Would it be possible for you to access your account via a laptop/desktop, or an Android device? You should be able to download the PDF immediately that way. Option 2: I would be happy to download the PDF on your behalf and send that over to you as an attachment. For this, I would need your registered email address, and the name of the project you’re attempting to download. Once again, I’m sorry you’re facing this issue. Our team is standing by to help if you need any more information or run into any other issues. All the best, and thank you for contacting SparkPath. Anjali

Activity 3 – Project Delegation – Jenn’s issue

On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 10:22 PM ABC wrote:

Hi there,

Can you please create a SparkPath 1-minute customer survey that we can send to clients? Do
not create the survey today, but please write an email to me that includes a short project plan
that explains the steps required to do this.
It should include what you think is necessary to successfully execute the project, including why
we should do this, the different steps involved, and timelines with dates.
I’d like for you to take the lead on this but please ask for my help where necessary. Specifically,
please send me the questions you need me to answer for you to complete this.

I know you can do this!
ABC

On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 4:11 PM Rahul. rahulCEO@superhuman.com wrote:
Subject: Thank you for using Superhuman!

Hey ABC,

Thank you for using Superhuman! As one of our most active customers, please could you take 1 minute to tell us about your experience?

This is super helpful: it helps us create the best email experience for you 🙂

Thanks so much,
Rahul

My Answer to this question:

I don’t remember this one. 🙁

All I remember is I cleared this round and I got selected for the next round with this message from the CEO:

“Thank you Anjali, you did great. I wanted to ask if you are currently allowed to work in Canada? Thank you”

YES!! I did it.

Next Round Email

This is what I got:

So, the second round was like a group interview. Where each selected 5 candidates were supposed to give a sales pitch on any of the above topics. (Note I was the only Asian among all)

We were given 60 seconds to talk about the companies product. I gave my best shot, I was hopeful that I will definitely make it.

Result

I did not clear the second round of the interview. So, I asked what was missing in my pitch from the CEO.

This is the reply I got:

“Hi Anjali,

Your assessment results were very good. Nicely done.

Either that, I only have your pitch to comment on. It was solid. In the words you chose, you didn’t quite capture the essence of the Challenge mindset as well as some of the other candidates.

I hope this helps! Best of luck with your next steps.

Best wishes”

Moral of the story

You learn and grow from your mistakes. Nobody is perfect in this world, all you got to do is be respectful towards your feedback and be grateful that you got a chance and an experience to add in your lifetime.

I hope this post gives you exposure to the interviews, rounds, and responses to give or the way to approach while looking for a job. In my upcoming post, I will talk about another company experience.

Thank you.

Happy Learning!

Happy learning!

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Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

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