Started with a phone interview with the hiring manager, who was very enthusiastic regarding my candidacy, then arranged a series of interviews, face to face and via telephone with stakeholders in the UK and Chicago. The HR contact was extremely diligent, proactive and accommodating. What was frustrating was to learn that the strengths, skills and experience that made the hiring manager think I was a great candidate, and made him so enthusiastic, became liabilities with the subsequent team members I interviewed with. Suddenly I was seen as "too research focused" and "not client focused and strategic enough". In truth, I focused on research strategies, approaches and expertise that directly served my clients, and that we're the foundation for a client focused approach, that the hiring manager seemed to get. Somehow, this was lost on the subsequent interviewers, especially the chap in the UK, who completely mis-interpreted my responses to his questions. I suspect there was an inherent bias for another, internal candidate among the second tier of interviewers I talked to after the hiring manager. All in all, a very disjointed team when it came to what they were looking for.