I applied over the internet. About a week later I got a call from a recruiter in their human resources office. She was very polite if a little pushy. She had that 'all business' kind of attitude people get from dealing with tons of similar phone calls all day long. No doubt, she seemed very good at what she does. She asked all the appropriate questions that qualified me as a candidate (review of the facts in my resume).
She then, rather soon in my opinion, sent me an email which had instructions on how to take an online assessment and fill out an application (more detailed information). I took the assessment that night and it consisted of some timed logic questions (which drawer do you put the file), some personality evaluation questions (similar to a DISC profile or a Briggs Myers test), and some sort of 'call center assessment' - I have no idea why this type of test was important considering the job I was applying for was not for a call center. It doesn't matter b/c it was easy to tell the answers were geared towards sales generation and I've been in sales a long time.
I received a voicemail the next morning indicating that I did very well on the assessment and that she now needed to schedule a phone appointment with the 'hiring manager'. She also emailed me a 'talking paper' about the job. When I called back to schedule the phone appointment I left a voicemail and my phone number. She called me back a minute later and started on the same speech she gave me when we first spoke. I had a hard time interrupting her to let her know who I was. She seemed a little agitated after that - and as much as I hated to agitate her, I figure it was her own fault for being 'un-interruptable'. Anyway, I scheduled the appointment with the Director of Wealth Management (of which I am sure there must be several at USAA).
The Director and I had a phone interview the following Monday. It went very well. He told me that I'd get a call back from the HR recruiter by the end of the week. Then he told me what schedule would follow, step by step, assuming I moved one each time. He said that the HR woman had some work to do (I assume background check, etc...), and that he would give her some feedback, and that she would probably schedule a phone appointment with me and another Director from Phoenix (which I indicated I preferred over San Antonio), and then, he said, they'd fly me to first San Antonio and then Phoenix.
That phone interview went so well that, to my surprise, I did not get a call from the HR recruiter by the end of that week. I checked my status on line the following Monday, and it said 'interviewing'. So I called her after lunch (trying not to say anything that could appear threatening). Well, at the end of my first sentence she said that actually they decided not to go forward with me. She said she had called me and left a message earlier - at first I didn't believe her about the call, but suspended believe until I got home to check my home voicemail. It turns out she did leave a voicemail at home (strange b/c the whole time we had only been using my business/cell number), and she called maybe 10 minutes before I called her, at the earliest. So, considering the fact that I called her right after she left the voicemail, she handled the call very well.
She gave a reason why they said no, but frankly I was in shock for a second (never been told no before). So I asked her why again, and she gave what seemed to be a different - but possibly related - answer, but to me it was still vague. The first one was something like they were looking for someone more competitive, and second one was they were going with some other candidates. She said that I am 'welcome' to apply for another job on the USAA website - just not the Wealth Manager one (really? imagine that... ;) I hate to imagine a past experience that made her feel it is necessary to clarify that to people.
This happened yesterday. I am still in shock a little because last Monday it all seemed to be going so well. The only thing that stands out as maybe odd was that after the entire phone interview he told me I'd have to have another phone interview with a director of wealth management in Phoenix... That didn't click well at the time, and now I think that maybe stating my preference of one city over another might have had something to do with the response. After looking up other USAA Wealth Managers on Linked in, I do not believe the 'not interested' response has anything to do with my resume (I have much higher credentials, more experience, and basically a better resume than most others I found). I also know the phone meeting went extremely well. Therefore, I am at a major loss.
In any case, I feel that I missed out on a chance with what I deem to be a very fine company - and they also missed out on a chance to have me. I hope my experience can be helpful to you. Best of luck.
