First a take-home technical data analysis, followed by two separate 1-hour conversations with company managers.
All was fine with the first two steps, then the process started breaking apart:
1. HR forgot to follow-up after successful completion of the second step, so I had to get things back on track;
2. With the second interviewer:
a. there was no question at all about my background, my technical, collaborative or project management skills, or on how I would contribute and add value to the specific role, a role that is rather technical;
b. all the questions had to do with topics that were the specialty of the interviewer, but did not have any relation with the actual, specific role.
Why should a quantitative UX researcher know or have any familiarity of business/distribution strategies?
Furthermore, despite my asking the second interviewer for indications on what we would be talking about, so to prepare the best I could, I was given none and certainly not on the fact that I would be submitted to the typical management consultant interview rather than reflecting the technical UX Researcher role I was applying to.
There is probably an easy explanation to what I experienced: a combination of laziness and opportunism. Laziness in that the interviewer did not appear to have had any look whatsoever to either my resume or cover letter. Opportunism as the interviewer tried to get ideas from me (and I am sure he will do the same with as many other people as he can) on how to resuscitate the failing distribution strategy of the product that he is responsible for.