I had an initial call with the recruiter, and then phone interview with the hiring manager/team lead. Admittedly, I had heard some really negative things about the company from past and current employees prior to these calls, but decided to see for myself. After both phone screenings, I was invited into the office for an in person. Met with 3 people - an AM, a CSM and the team lead that I had the call with. Both AM and CSM conversations were fine, but they both seemed really unengaged -- it was almost as if they had just been told that morning that they had to speak with me.
However, the team lead sit down was the most shocking. She and I had a great conversation on the phone, but I was met with a cold personality. I tend to prefer the conversation type interviews where you're both asking questions of each other and the conversation flows. Nope. She was sitting in front of her computer (with it opened) and asking me a series of questions that she had clearly typed up. If that wasn't bad enough, she was recording my answers. AWKWARD. She didn't even look at me. It was the most uncomfortable interview, and geared more towards the type of format you might have for an entry level position or someone just out of college.
I can understand wanting to make a smart hire, so coming prepared with pre-set questions that you want to know, but she was clearly a new manager with no experience and very little training. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly), the recruiter called a couple days later and said they were moving in a different direction. Totally OK with me. The interview didn't play to my strengths of having engaging and meaningful conversations, so I wouldn't want to work somewhere that couldn't get to the root of my experience or talent beyond a Q&A style format.
