I had a phone screening where I was asked standard questions, and the recruiter immediately invited me to an in-person interview. This felt unusual, as there didn’t appear to be any internal vetting or alignment before moving candidates forward. The in-person meeting lasted only 20–25 minutes, and the interviewers appeared disengaged and unprepared. They raised concerns about a potential conflict on my resume and my commute, both of which could have easily been identified during the initial screening call. I had to take time off work to attend, so it was frustrating to find that these basic considerations hadn’t been addressed earlier. The overall experience gave the impression that there was little intention to seriously evaluate my candidacy at that stage.