We at The Muse believe that the best way to learn how to improve your employer brand is to see how the best job sites do it.
Use The Muse to find a job at a company with a culture you love. Select the career path that aligns with you:
Well, youre in luck—because thats exactly what our Employer Spotlight Series does. We share a lot of useful tips and information from companies that are really killing it with their employer brands so that you can learn from their success.
We talked to Suni Peddle, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist at Accruent, about the company’s culture of putting employees first, how they hire for values-fit as well as technical skills across all of their offices this month.
Getting hired at a leading software company like Accruent is no easy feat. With its comprehensive suite of real estate, facilities, and asset management solutions serving over 10,000 customers globally, Accruent only hires the best of the best.
As a rapidly growing technology company, Accruent’s interview process is designed to thoroughly assess a candidate’s technical skills, problem-solving abilities, and cultural fit Standing out requires meticulous preparation, research and practicing responses to the most commonly asked Accruent interview questions.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll share the top 15 Accruent interview questions that you’re likely to face along with proven strategies to craft winning answers. With insightful tips and detailed sample responses, you’ll gain the confidence and knowledge needed to ace your Accruent interview. Let’s get started!
Overview of Accruent’s Hiring Process
Typically, Accruent’s hiring process starts with an online application followed by a phone screening with a recruiter to discuss timelines, benefits and next steps.
The key interviews include:
- Technical interview assessing your programming skills and technical knowledge
- Behavioral interview evaluating your soft skills and cultural fit
- Manager interview focused on your experience and qualifications
- Leadership interview involving VP or C-level executives
Throughout the process, expect competency, technical and situational questions aimed at evaluating your qualifications from all angles. Advanced preparation using real Accruent interview questions is key to standing out amongst highly competitive candidates.
Now let’s dive into the top 15 questions and proven strategies to answer them like a pro.
1. How would you troubleshoot a complex software issue impacting multiple customers?
Troubleshooting is a critical skill Accruent looks for since managing complex software involves resolving issues efficiently. When tackling this question:
- Demonstrate a systematic, methodical approach to diagnosing issues
- Emphasize communication, time management and collaboration skills
- Provide an example of successfully troubleshooting a past complex issue
I would start by gathering information from different customers to identify commonalities in the problem. Next, I’d replicate the issue, analyze logs and collaborate with developers to isolate the root cause. If an immediate solution isn’t available, I’d implement a temporary workaround to minimize customer disruption. Throughout the process, I’d provide frequent updates to impacted users and leadership. This balanced approach of methodical problem-solving, clear communication and rapid response has enabled me to resolve numerous complex software issues successfully in the past.
2. Walk me through your experience managing the full sales cycle from prospecting to closing deals.
This question tests your sales skills and ability to build relationships. When responding:
- Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the sales cycle
- Highlight successes in identifying prospects, nurturing leads and closing deals
- Use an example deal to illustrate your process and achievements
In my 5+ years in software sales, I’ve successfully managed the full sales cycle from start to finish. First, I use market research and referrals to identify prospects that match our ideal customer profile. Once I’ve made initial contact, I focus on relationship-building, understanding pain points and tailoring our solution to the prospect’s needs. To develop the deal, I methodically follow up, provide demos and content, answer objections, and negotiate terms. For example, I recently closed a $300K deal with Acme Inc. by taking the time to build rapport with stakeholders, addressing their concerns about migration, and guiding them through each stage of the sales cycle. My structured approach resulted in a 35% shorter sales cycle.
3. How do you prioritize features in a product roadmap based on various stakeholder needs?
This question evaluates your product management skills in balancing competing demands. To impress interviewers:
- Demonstrate an ability to align features with strategic goals
- Discuss frameworks used to quantify and prioritize feature requests
- Provide an example of successfully prioritizing roadmap features
First, I gather input from all stakeholders through brainstorming sessions to identify benefits and complexities of each feature request. Next, I categorize features based on value, effort and alignment with company goals as high, medium or low priority. I use prioritization frameworks like Kano Model and RICE scoring to quantify feature impact and development effort. For example, when building our mobile app, I leveraged this process to prioritize syncing offline capability as a high value, high effort item and notification customization as a lower ranked nice-to-have. This enabled us to balance stakeholder needs while ensuring development stayed focused on core functionalities.
4. Tell me about a time you successfully led cross-functional teams on a software project.
This question reveals your leadership skills and ability to collaborate across departments. When answering:
- Provide a specific example that highlights cross-team coordination
- Focus on communication, relationship-building and conflict management
- Share quantifiable results showcasing the project’s success
As the lead PM for our customer portal enhancement project, I managed a team of 5 developers, 2 QA testers, and 2 UX designers. To foster collaboration, I facilitated design thinking workshops for the cross-functional team to align on timelines, design prototypes, and testing criteria. When development challenges appeared, I coordinated knowledge sharing sessions between teams to find solutions. This atmosphere of transparency, engagement and collective ownership enabled us to deliver a high-quality portal refresh 3 weeks ahead of schedule with a 4.8/5 customer satisfaction rating.
5. How would you go about optimizing the performance of a poorly written application?
This technical question tests your knowledge of debugging techniques and performance optimization. To succeed:
- Demonstrate your systematic approach to diagnosing and addressing performance issues
- Discuss performance tuning strategies like caching, load balancing and asynchronous processing
- Share tools and methodologies you’ve used to optimize applications
First, I would profile the application to pinpoint bottlenecks using tools like New Relic. Once I’ve identified high CPU usage functions, slow database queries or repetitive processes, I can implement optimizations like indexing database tables, adding Redis caching layers or making processes asynchronous. If the codebase itself is a major issue, I would refactor modules with the highest technical debt leveraging best practices around clean, modular, reusable code. I would also educate developers on writing optimized code and enable early performance testing in the development lifecycle to prevent future issues. This holistic approach has allowed me to improve the response times and throughput of several legacy applications by over 50% during my career.
6. How would you go about establishing relationships with key decision makers at a potential client?
This question tests your business development skills. To succeed:
- Demonstrate a strategic, targeted approach to networking
- Discuss tactics for relationship-building and adding value
- Share examples of successfully connecting with decision makers
I take a three-pronged approach. First, I thoroughly research the target company’s pain points, goals and organizational chart online. This enables me to identify the decision makers and their priorities. Next, I look for opportunities to connect through trade shows, conferences, and warm introductions from my network. When reaching out, I focus on relationship-building over “hard selling”. I add value by sharing industry perspectives, new technologies, and up-to-date market research tailored to their role. For example, this approach enabled me to build a strong relationship with Acme Inc’s CTO over months of consultation, ultimately leading to them purchasing our AI analytics platform.
7. How would you go about optimizing the performance of a sales team?
This question reveals your people management abilities. To succeed:
- Demonstrate strong listening and communication skills
- Discuss performance drivers for sales like activity levels, pipeline and conversions
- Share tactics for motivation, coaching, and optimizing processes
The first step is identifying performance gaps through one-on-one meetings with team members to understand challenges and motivations. Next, I would analyze sales data around lead follow up rates, calls made, pipeline growth and win rates to pinpoint areas needing improvement. My priority would be implementing processes for better lead tracking, sales opportunity analysis, and territory management. I would also focus on coaching skills development and motivational techniques personalized to each rep. Taking this metrics-driven yet compassionate approach enabled me to improve sales cycle times by 20% and win rates by 10% for my team at [Company].
8. How would you conduct competitive analysis for a product you’re managing?
This reveals your strategic marketing abilities. To succeed:
- Demonstrate a structured approach to analyzing competition
- Discuss tactics like market research, product comparisons and SWOT analysis
- Provide examples of your analysis influencing product decisions
First, I research competitors online, reviewing their websites, content, product offerings, and marketing messages. Next, I analyze third-party data on competitor market share, customer segments and growth strategies. I also set up product demos and free trials to experience their platforms first-hand from a user’s perspective. Synthesizing this data, I build out a SWOT analysis, comparing product features, pricing and positioning side-by-side. For example, at [Company] this enabled me to recognize a gap in our analytics capabilities compared to competitor A, leading us to develop a new predictive insights add-on module that drove a 15% increase in sales.
9. Tell me about a time you successfully negotiated a complex contract.
This behavioral question reveals your negotiation skills. To succeed:
What do you value the most in potential candidates? What kinds of questions do you ask someone during the initial screening and interview processes to determine if they’re the right fit?
Not only do we look at how well a candidate fits the job technically, but we also ask them about our values. In this way, we make sure that the people we hire are not only different but also share core values like being brave, customer-focused, strategic, and flexible, to name a few. We know we can take our company to the next level if we hire people at every level who live by these values and who, no matter what their job is, push themselves to be creative and inspiring.
What is one tool or piece of advice you wish you’d known about when you first started working at Accruent?
When I first started working at Accruent, I heard that leaders and executives had an open-door policy. But I didn’t think that meant employees who didn’t work in our Austin, Texas, headquarters. Our plan is to hire more executives in New Orleans as we build our office there. For now, though, we don’t have many senior leaders there.
However, I was glad to learn that the geographical boundary has mostly been a myth! Many people, including the CEO, have told me that if I want to talk to a C-level team member, I shouldn’t be afraid to schedule a time to do so.
The mentorship program at Accruent is one of the many great things about working there, and my mentor recently told me that one of the jobs of leaders at Accruent is to help guide other employees. This makes my belief even stronger that Accruent really cares about its employees and wants them to grow and develop.
Accruent | Asset Information Management Platform
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