A person from the Talent Team reached out to me on LinkedIn. We had a quick screening call and then they passed me to their colleague who asked me about my availability for the interview with the hiring manager.
 I gave them a bunch of time slots on the upcoming week (Mon-Fri) to choose from. They scheduled it on the latest time (Friday, 3pm ET) with Jeff Weaver, director of engineering. It was supposed to be 45 minutes. From the start, Jeff said that it was supposed to be 40 minutes but he thought it would take even less time. In fact, had I not asked my own questions, it might have ended within 15-20 minutes. Jeff asked just a few questions (I think there were four) most of which were fairly basic or had already been covered in my earlier conversation with Ron (like, “do you have experience with TS”?). There wasn’t any discussion around topics I’d expect at this level, like system design, architectural decisions, or mentoring experience. Overall, the interaction felt more like a formality than a genuine opportunity for dialogue. Jeff seemed to be disengaged, like someone told him to come to that interview. I also couldn’t shake the impression that there may not have been real intent to hire, or perhaps preferred candidates had already been identified. The scheduling (late Friday afternoon, after multiple availability windows during the week I gave them) added to that feeling.

Sure enough, I’ve got the generic “I had a chance to sync with the team and unfortunately, we will not be moving you forward in the process for this role.” from them. (what team?) The timing of that email was also odd: in less than 2 days, Sunday afternoon. I can imagine Jeff told them right after the interview to notify me about their “decision” and they waited to make it look like they “had a chance to sync with the team” (when? On the weekend?).