I was contacted by a recruiter who found my resume online. I interviewed with him, then was told I would be contacted if Proofpoint, which happily, I was. I was interviewed by the hiring manager, who has 4 of her senior team members interview me separately. When one was finished, he would transfer me to the next team member. After those 6 interviews, all on the phone, I got a call from the hiring manager's manager, then his manager, too. After that, the recruiter called me and told me an offer was pending and we discussed the salary I should request. I was offered 5k/yr less, but offered the option to purchase 5000 shares of stock, plus a $5000 signing bonus to be paid with one of my first payroll checks. I'll not divulge what the actual salary I took was as that would be a bad idea.