KelbyOne interview questions

I was contacted by a head hunter. I was asked to submit work samples, which I did. It took forever for them to get back to me and when they finally did I had an initial meeting with the HR Director. She seemed nice enough. I was then taken to a room where I met the Web Director, Marketing Director, and VP of Marketing. The VP of marketing was an older guy but seemed cool enough. I could tell there was a difference in Philosophy between the Web and Marketing Director, which i though was pretty humorous. It seemed like the usually struggle between a technical and nontechnical management. I toured the place and could tell by people's facial expressions they were not as happy to be there as I was lead to believe by HR. Anyway, just got a bad vibe from the place so I declined their offer which was a joke. The compensation was much less than advertised and when I asked to negotiate they would not.

I applied online & was contacted within a few days by HR for a phone screen. Very pleasant & took 20-30 minutes. From there I was scheduled to come in & speak with their VP of Marketing. That interview took close to 2 hrs. I actually enjoyed the interview because the VP was quite knowledgeable & understood the nuts & bolts behind each of the achievements I'd noted. It wasn't one of those interviews where they ask you canned questions & then write down 3 words of your response & you get the feeling that they have no idea what you're talking about. It was someone who'd faced similar challenges & appreciated how I'd executed the strategies. I was asked back again to speak with more of the team - this time another VP (on the finance side) & then I met with HR. Again - pleasant & smart people - a tour of the facility, discussions about financial/subscription goals of the company & information about the company benefits plan. A 4th interview was requested on very short notice - this time with the owners of the company: husband & wife Scott & Kalebra Kelby. Apparently there was a small window that they would be in the office. I made it work. That was the oddest interview I've ever had. They were dressed in shorts & tshirts - which I was surprised to see in an interview but apparently it's a casual dress environment. The husband Scott was pleasant & introduced himself, told me a little bit about the company. Kalebra just smiled & then the first thing she said to me was that while my resume showed potential, she felt I didn't have the experience that they were looking for. I asked her what specifically she was looking for - perhaps I just hadn't noted it clearly in my resume & I'd be happy to elaborate. She said that they were looking for someone with more experience in B2C. I answered that I had a combined total of almost 16 years in both B2B & B2C environments & would be happy to speak to the B2C specifically. She smiled again & said that they were looking for someone with at least 5-7 years experience. Maybe she thought I said 6 rather than 16 - so I explained to her that I had more than the amount she was noting - even if you simply split the years of experience down the middle you were looking at nearly 8 years experience in B2C. (my resume detailed which was which) Scott didn't say anything during the exchange. She basically said Thanks for your time, please wait here as HR will be in shortly to speak with you & then stood up & walked out. Scott shook my hand & followed her out. & then I sat there. & sat there. & waited some more. One of the ladies from HR came down the hall after about 20 minutes & while she was very polite, I could tell from her reaction that she did not know I was waiting. (she asked where the Kelbys were - dead giveaway) Clearly she'd not gotten a message to come & get me. The owners just left me waiting. Not respectful of someone's time when you know they've stepped away from work to meet with you. Fast forward 2 weeks. Several followups with the VP & HR. No real updates - just we're still waiting for approvals to hire. Eventually the VP was actually quite honest & said that he wanted to hire me but that the owners had not given him approval on his hiring decision. He'd been brought in from a large corporate environment to basically turn around their operations - but was not being allowed to execute on decisions that he felt were in the best interest of the company. I learned this when we spoke again a few months later & he'd left the company - that pattern had never changed. He seemed very competent in my opinion & came from a great company - so that was a huge red flag for me that he wouldn't choose to stay. 2 months after my first interview I received a followup email from HR thanking me for my time & noting that the position had been filled. My read on the company was that the people working there were pleasant, intelligent, hard workers. I felt that Kalebra's dismissive thanks-but-no-thanks had nothing to do with my resume. Because if it did, why in the world would you ask someone to arrange to take time out of their work day (for the 4th time) & have them drive in just to say I don't think you're it? You could tell me that on the phone & I could stay billable. At the time of the interview, I had not discovered glassdoor - but now that I have, wow! I see the pattern seems to be across the board in the Kelby One / Kelby Media Group reviews. I consider it a bullet dodged - who wants to be hired for a role, given performance requirements, & then not be allowed to actually do anything that you feel would affect a positive change? There are plenty of companies who hire you to do a job - & then actually let you do it - & reward you for that. You can't grow a company if you can't recognize & keep the good people. If you had an off experience with this company - you're not alone!!