Horrifyingly unprofessional and disrespectful in the end. My experience leaves me feeling that this organization is disingenuous and seriously lacking in integrity, particularly for one that considers themselves to be developing "human centered" practices and culture.
Over the course of two months, I spent more than a dozen hours in eleven different meetings with ten different people. Consistently throughout the process I was told that the feedback was positive and I never received a single piece of critical information.
My would be boss even arranged a meet and greet with me and the team I would be working with when he was in San Francisco from the home office. In his words they were "over the moon" about me. We discussed a start date, a trip to get onboarded in Philadelphia, even a possible offsite event, AND I was given a verbal offer and effectively told it was a done deal.
Then... when it was time to receive my formal written offer, suddenly things changed. First I was told that a member of senior leadership expressed some concern about me, and all of a sudden the offer was no longer being presented.
I was not given any specific information as to why, and the hiring manager didn't even give me the courtesy of a call, even after nine weeks of going out of my way to make myself available for numerous meetings. Messages to him and others at EPAM remain unanswered. I was only able to speak with the recruiter, who after days was able to glean more specific information from the hiring manager.
His responses to her were effectively a backtracking of the consistently positive feedback he himself had given me throughout the process. This outcome was confusing and contradictory, and leaves me understanding that at the very least, one or more of the people I spoke with, particularly the hiring manager, was dishonest, misleading, and disingenuous.
I am embarrassed for them. I’m offended that they would waste such a great deal of my, or anyone's, time and mislead me so dramatically; I vehemently discourage any candidates for this position or any other within the digital engagement practice in particular, from investing any significant energy in discussions with EPAM at the present time.