Meet the Hiring Manager: Bill de Dufour — Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering, VMware
Our Meet the Hiring Manager series allows you to get to know the people who grow teams at VMware. You’ll learn about our hiring managers’ career paths and what they look for in candidates during the interview process. This week we’d like you to meet Bill de Dufour.
VMware Careers: Bill, tell us how your career journey in Tech started?
Bill De Dufour: My career journey began as a Pre-Sales Engineer working on printing systems and eventually progressing to manage the team I started on. After this, I went on to undertake many different roles such as a Financial Analyst, IT project manager, and IT Director within a large K-12 school system. I then decided to move back into sales as a pre & post-sales consultant, and Systems Engineering Manager before coming to VMware.
VMware Careers: Share with us what attracted you to join VMware’s SLED (State, Local Government, and Education) team.
Bill de Dufour: As a former SLED customer I witnessed first-hand how VMware made an impact on my organization. With their technology, what would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take months to accomplish could now be done in hours at little cost. The most important impact VMware made for me was not the cost savings, but the agility to meet my constituent’s needs quickly and effectively.
VMware Careers: How long have you been at VMware and how has VMware changed since you joined?
Bill de Dufour: I joined VMware in 2017, and the first thing I noticed was how open and welcoming everyone is here and that persists to this day. We do not have the feel of a large company with a monolithic perspective. We still have a “start-up” feel, where everyone is willing to help, and pitch in to get things done.
VMware’s focus has changed since I started here. When I joined our customers were typical end-users or IT managers. Today with our broad portfolio of world-class solutions, we are having strategic multi-year vision conversations with CIO’s and with their customers.
VMware Careers: What has been the biggest lesson you have learned as you progressed in your career?
Bill de Dufour: I believe learning to leverage VMware’s internal network of people and solutions is probably the single most important lesson I have learned. If you think someone has likely done something before, they probably have. Couple this with our “start-up” persona, and it is easy to get insights and expertise to address our customer’s challenges quickly.
VMware Careers: Your team in SLED is hiring. Can you tell us more about your organization’s mission and why people should join?
Bill de Dufour: SLED is a unique business, and one of the most rewarding from my perspective. What makes SLED unique is that our customers are typically not in competition with each other, in fact, they typically are very willing to share, be open with their counterparts, and are driven by a higher mission – to serve their citizens, students, and patients. Ultimately we are serving those who serve others, by providing innovative & creative solutions
VMware Careers: If someone reading this was coming for an interview with you tomorrow , what interview tips would you give them?
Bill de Dufour: I would share three things with them.
1) Get your stories ready. I want to hear how you have delighted those who you serve, and how you did it.
2) Look up our EPIC2 values. Review our corporate culture, and understand that this is truly how we do business.
3) Come prepared to ask me questions, for me, interviews are not just me getting to learn about you, but you getting to learn me and the VMware team and culture.
When I hire, I want to make sure there are great synergies that flow both ways, that is what I believe makes a fantastic partnership!
Could you see yourself working for a manager like Bill? Click below to apply to an open role on his team today!
Senior Solutions Engineer SLED
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