Zoho Interview Experience For Pre-Sales Engineer

Hi all!

This is going to be lengthy.

I was working as an intern in a reputed service-based company as I was yet to graduate and was looking for potential opportunities in product-based companies.

I was interested in sales, particularly Pre-sales.

Coincidentally, there was a call for candidates to participate in a mass drive for tech support and pre-sales engineer vacancies at Zoho Corp.

Since it was the most sort-out combo of mine (my dream company and my favourite role together).

I requested one of my relatives to refer me for the vacancy (without a referral it’s really hard to get into Zoho).

The interview was scheduled at Zoho Chennai, Estancia It park.

Day 1: WRITTEN TEST AND GD

It’s the tradition of Zoho to begin the interview with a written test. I had four parts comprising aptitude, vocabulary & language, SQL, and Email writing.

Aptitude :

Basic queries from familiar topics such as Time and distance, work, percentile, profit, and a few general knowledge questions.

Vocabulary and language :

This part consisted of Basic grammar queries along with a few technical English queries, the easiest among all, and I scored maximum here.

SQL :

I’m sorry, this wasn’t my cup of tea.

( Basically a mechanical engineer)

EMAIL WRITING:

A few role-based scenarios were given and candidates were requested to respond to them along with an essay topic to check the language flow and writing skills.

1 hour 30 minutes was the total time for the test.

Post which we were sent for lunch, Zoho has a variety of buffets set up for their employees, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Then we assembled at the HR floor for the results. Guys who excelled in SQL were sent to another round.

The remaining 10 of us were directed to another floor for GD.

The GD was simple for me because the participants weren’t competitive enough.

Post GD two people were shortlisted and we had a face-to-face interview with the team manager.

Post the F2F we were sent back.

After a week I got an email stating that I had cleared round 1 and would be having the next level of interview by the end of that week.

Day 2 ( Face-to-face with Customer success manager )

This lasted for 4 hours, initially, he asked me to prepare a brochure for the product, and I was given a 30-minute deadline post which I had to present the same.

This cycle repeated with a presentation and product demo.

I was provided with a laptop and sources to know about the product.

This was so prolonged and the manager was super cool, I was given frequent breaks and even took me to the pantry for a coffee break, thank God I was able to survive.

After the demos and presentation, there was a mock call session as well. Since I had experience in national-level sales pitchathons it was easy for me to draft the presentation and defend my pitch.

The manager was quite impressed and said I would have the rest of the interview by the end of the month.

I was disappointed because I wasn’t enough patient to wait, however, I had no other option.

Then, after a couple of weeks, I received a call from HR for the next level of interviews.

Day 3: F2F WITH PRODUCT MANAGER AND HR SCREENING

Initially, there was a one-hour discussion to check the probability of a match from both sides. After which I was sent to the product manager.

I greeted him with his name, and he was surprised. That gave me an advantage. ( I have this habit of checking the interviewer’s LinkedIn page before I go for F2F, I specifically ask for the details from HR )

Again the same demo and presentation were repeated. However this time I was better.

He gave few problems to check my product knowledge. I did 3/ 5. Then there was a discussion about my family background and passion.

Post which I was sent back with the same note “We will get back to you shortly”.

Day 4: HR DISCUSSION

Exactly a week later, I received a call from an HR guy, inviting me for a discussion with the senior HR manager.

This was very quick, nothing technical the interview lasted for 5 minutes and again the same “I’ll let you know “.

I was frustrated but left the hall with hope in my heart.

Since I travelled by bike, I was almost drained due to the hot climate.

By the end of the day, I got a call from HR.

I picked it up, and he said “Congratulations, you have been selected and we are happy to offer you the pre-sales engineer role and welcome to Zoho “Tears rolled out and I was overwhelmed. Called everyone who was close to me and told them about this.

At last after 7 rounds of interviews, I am now joining the organisation. My parents and friends are supper happy about this and thanks to my cousin for the initial referral.

Zoho is a place where loyalty is both from the employer and employee side. The hard effort taken by Zoho to provide a second home for their workers is evident in the happy faces of the employees.

Happily waiting to start my stint at Zoho soon!