I had a very positive and engaging initial conversation with the recruiter, who was thoughtful, transparent, and helped move me forward in the process to speak with the company’s new CPO. Unfortunately, my experience in the next interview was very different. The conversation felt dismissive and, at times, unnecessarily condescending. Rather than creating space to understand my background, experience, and potential fit, the interviewer appeared to make assumptions and did not meaningfully engage in a two-way discussion about how my experience building and scaling Talent functions could support the company’s needs. In over 10 years of leading Talent and People functions for growing companies, I have rarely left an interview feeling as diminished as I did after this conversation. A strong interview process should reflect curiosity, respect, and mutual evaluation, especially for a leadership role. This experience did not reflect that.