At phone screening, I was informed on the role and job responsibilities clearly, which was a match to my skills and QA experience.
Immediately, first round was scheduled, and hiring/QA Manager was also on the same job role expectation lines. In short, I passed the 1st round successfully.
Then came the coding/technical round which I cleared and was then invited for 3rd round which I cleared it too.
Now, surprisingly at the next 4th VP round(before HR 5th round), the interviewer asked me whether I am aware of the job role or not in the middle of interview. He told that this Role is for individual contributor only. This expectation was contrary to the role and responsibilities shared earlier at lengthy 1st round discussions. Even in written Job Description, 2+ management experience is expected from a candidate. I said that I do both manage and contribute individually, as company expects me to manage at 15+ years exp along with daily individual contribution, but interviewer gave awkward face expressions.
If there is a role-mismatch, I suggest to evaluate directly at HR phone- screening, instead of scheduling lengthy interview rounds one after another and then doing the role-match at last round.
Note: I am not claiming that I was the best candidate for the Role by any means, and I accept that there are/were better candidates in pipeline. I am just sharing my interview experience.
