After a brief call with the in-house recruiter, a call with the hiring manager was scheduled. This call lasted an hour and was pretty terrible. She seemed very unengaged and distracted, and could not answer basic questions about the technology her department currently builds and maintains, saying at one point, "I actually don't even know, and that's bad." She asked only very standard questions. I was not expecting an in-person interview after this call, based on how uninterested she seemed in me. However, about a week later the in-house recruiter emailed to schedule an on-site interview. The in person interview was just one hour long, again with the hiring manager. She again only asked very few questions, and nothing very probing or difficult. I think I showed a mastery of the unique skills required for the role, and presented myself very well. At the end of the interview, I was told that next steps would be to schedule a Skype meeting with her peer in India. At one point she said that she was looking for someone who would make her look good, and seemed to idolize the senior management of the company, who reside on a segregated top floor of the building. She mentioned that she had interviewed at least 70 people in person for this specific role. Seriously, 70. To me, that was a red flag indicating that she has no idea what she's looking for or how to recognize a good fit, and her poor interviewing ability was also a concern. Unsurprisingly, I became the 71st person to receive a "we're moving forward with other candidates" email a few days later. Ultimately, I couldn't help but feel that my time had been wasted.

Recruiter reach out to me about this role, I did see mixed reviews on glassdoors but decided I would give them the benefit of the doubt. After a 20-25 minute phone interview with the HR recruiter the next step was to have a phone interview with the hiring manager. We spoke on the phone for an hour where I was asked about my management style, achievements, how I motivate people. She decided that I would come on-site and meet in-person with various people and gave HR raving reviews. I had a phone screen with the VP of Finance who gave me a thumbs up, met via webx with her counterpart in the UK, again all great feedback. Onsite interview with with the CIO. Again everyone was focused on leadership, managing a team (that has had no manager for over 6 months and was told needs a leader and mentor). I ended each interview with how do you see me fitting in this role, everyone response was I see you fitting very nicely and this team needs someone like you. I was to come back and meet the hiring manager in-person and was told they had a critical internal issue and wanted to reschedule. After a week I was informed they needed someone with more Global experience. So as the person in a previous review indicated I may have been candidate 72 for this role. I don't think they know what they want even when they have it in front of them. Either management is trigger shy or doesn't know how to make a decision. If the team is failing because they lack a leader I can see why. Based on this experience the reviews from others on this company are probably very true and this may have been a blessing in disguise. Even though I feel they wasted my time, I will take the high road as it gave me a chance to practice my interview skills.