The interview process began with a first email on April 29th to the recruiter and concluded June 16th.
The recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn based on my skills and experience. My initial interest meeting was great. We talked about my background and where I was looking to grow in my career. At this point I informed them I did not have a portfolio because most of my work is covered under a signed contract and I am unable to disclose.
The second interview was with two individuals, one that the position reported to and another individual the position would work closely with. The interview was going great and I received some background about the company and basic information about the role.
However, the interview only lasted 30 minutes. I was under the impression the meeting would be a full hour. I had zero time to ask questions related to what I needed to evaluate a company. I stated I had numerous questions and was told to send them and they would be answered at length. They never were.
The recruiter was amazing and proactively reached out to me once a week to let me know there was movement and the process was still ongoing. Kudos to them.
A third interview was scheduled. I inquired about my questions and was sent over the limited information that was compiled and said we could address items in our third meeting.
The third meeting was a panel of individuals including the first two I previously met, an individual that didn't really explain how they actually fit into the process and an Executive level individual.
We dived in and got started and I had a chance to ask some of my questions. The turning point came when I asked why the previous individual left. My previous interviewers gave a diplomatic answer. However, the executive answered in a questionable way which did not fully sit well with me.
The next question pertained to career path and growth. The executive answered that there isn't a defined path. It was based on growing the position and utilization of services. It could take 2 years or 7 years.
To be clear it was established that the position has been in existence for about 6 to 7 years. Through research, a minimum of 3 individuals held the role. In all that time, there was not an established plan of growth or a clearly defined niche for the role. This was an absolute red flag and I communicated my concern about this to the panel.
Additionally we discussed work life balance and having the autonomy to make decisions and handle situations on the spot. Another red flag was that the executive mentioned one of the individuals was on flex time the day of the interview, meaning they were supposed to be off, and it was the SECOND meeting of the day for him.
