Awful drawn-out 7-week candidate experience that I needed a week of mental health days to heal from. As In continue my job search, I'll no longer trust in the team’s best intentions. This team thinks it’s appropriate to grill a candidate in a presentation that is the first impression of the team the candidate would supervise. I had 0 exposure to or information about the team I’d supervise, until I made a presentation to which they were invited. I’d asked who would be present at the presentation, and the recruiter never answered the question but sent an invite with the 4 team members I’d already spoken to. Over 10 people were present, and I’d not been introduced to them before, nor did I know they were part of the audience. I found this completely disrespectful and off-putting; it’s as if I was being hazed. The role I’d applied for was completely aligned with my background, and early interviews were positive. After 5 weeks of interviewing and waiting, I was told that all feedback was “excellent” (in retrospect, it was a red flag that this was so vague). I was then asked to present a content strategy to the team, including a slide deck that would be delivered ahead of my presentation. The assignment was not aligned with my understanding of the job description, so I asked for clarification. I was granted email access to the hiring manager (“because she is SOOO busy), but no in-person conversation. I did my best to create a presentation that wouldn’t give away competitor secrets, and was told that it “missed the mark.” I broke my rule of NEVER responding negatively to a rejection, because I felt that I’d been caught up in a scheme to gain valuable competitor information, not a process with integrity to find the right candidate.