First was a phone screen with the recruiter, who was fantastic, then a virtual meeting with the hiring manager. The next two steps would’ve been two in person “culture fit” interviews.
The hiring manager was weirdly cold. I’ve always been a pretty strong interviewer, but I felt like she immediately disliked me and thought I was wasting her time from the get-go. I knew by the look on her face that I wasn’t getting the job within ten minutes. She also interrupted a ton. I’m pretty chatty, but we ended 15 minutes under time, so I don’t think time was the problem. It felt like the conversation was swinging between a cross-examination and only being half listened to. It was mostly like she was fully uninterested in everything I said.
I have a 15 year career history, and I’ve never wanted to cut an interview short because the vibe was so weird, but I really considered it this time. I suspect she wanted a suit for the role—somebody older and more outwardly buttoned up. But that’s not my thing.
Additionally a lot of the info in the job posting and from my recruiter interaction was mismatched with what the manager said. Not sure where the communications breakdown was, but at least the recruiter was super friendly and personable. Recruiter said the role would hire their own team at the six month mark. Manager said “oh, we’re already hiring them.” Recruiter said I’d be working under the marketing manager, but the hiring manager was basically the PR director, from what I gathered. Nobody disclosed it was a third tier manager role until the end of my interview when the hiring manager made it very clear she didn’t find me qualified or capable. Overall, it left a bad taste in my mouth, and I wouldn’t want to work there. At least not in that department. She also strongly implied she’s a micromanager, so I think I dodged a bullet, even though comp was $160k +25% bonus.