I was called by Oracle recruiter for VP of QA Engineering. After brief phone screen with recruiter I was invited in for three, 30-45 minute interviews, all with other VP's, who all reported to the hiring manager. The job was very similar to what I was already doing and the problems were all issues I had solved before at several other large tech companies so I was confident I could help them. The technology area was very interesting and my incentive was working with that area and the level of the position, VP , not money.
Interviews were short, to the point and the interviewers were professional, probing and courteous. Spent only 15 minutes with hiring manager, he was dry, not much information and little time for any questions but I chalked it up to him being a very busy guy. Left and did not hear back for weeks. Out of the blue got a call from the recruiter again saying I was the number one candidate and how fast could I get back in for another round of interviews.After juggling several schedules I was able to get in and see 2 people, one was from the previous round and the second was a VP which had been out while I was in the first time. Things went went well but I began to notice a trend. Whenever I asked how the hiring manager was to work for I noticed some hesitation while answering that " he is very blunt " and "very candid"??
Spent some time making calls to a few friends at Oracle and reviewing Glassdoor comments, the consensus was you need to negotiate hard up front as Oracle is notorious for lack of internal promotions and low raises. One contact had been a previous Oracle employee and actually warned me about how territorial and blame oriented it was inside and how volatile the VP roles could be.
After many weeks of on and off , how fast can you get over here, and the hiring manager's vagueness I lost all incentive to pursue this position further. Finally the hiring manager sent me a nasty email about only wanting a title and money and said I was not a fit.
Bottom line, make sure you know the exact you are interviewing for, press them for the details of title and compensation when it becomes the right time and if the hiring manager brags about how blunt he is as if it is a great strength to be admired...run away fast.