The interview process is long. I met with four different individuals in four different interviews. Each interview was at least one hour. First I met with the potential direct supervisor for the role, the VP of Accounting. Next, with the President/owner of the company, followed by his wife and co-owner. Finally, I interviewed with two other individuals. The entire process took nearly two months. The interviews themselves were rather easy/average, with the exception of one.
The first interview was pretty standard; we talked a lot about the requirements for the role, what would be expected of me, and my own qualifications and experience. We also chatted a little personally about hobbies and other interests towards the end. This was a great interview; the individual was very helpful and knowledgable about the role.
The second interview with the owner/President of the company was unusual. We mostly talked about empathy and workplace culture; I was asked a lot of questions about how I would respond if a coworker or other peer didn't meet my expectations or dropped the ball on projects. We did not discuss the role nor my qualifications at all. While the conversation was interesting, it also raised several red flags. In my first interview I was told that TSAV no longer has a dedicated HR representative and that they had no intentions of replacing them. Knowing that going into my second interview, I asked about how the company would handle internal conflict between coworkers, and with a supervisor in particular (it was important to me how they handled conflict involving someone with a position of authority). It was at this point that the President got very defensive about a particular employee (my potential future supervisor) and said something like "she's not a b**ch, she's just under a lot of stress and is responsible for when others don't come through!" He talked for several minutes about this individual and their workload. This was a huge red flag; it alluded that there was existing internal conflicts that they are aware of, but maybe weren't handled well. I was then informed that the owners would be acting as HR for the forseeable future instead of a trained professional.
The third interview, with the VP/co-owner of the company was pretty standard and slightly more rigorous than the first interview. We discussed the role in depth and I reiterated my qualifications and applicable experience. It was during this interview that I was told I was a strong candidate and they were considering myself and another individual for hire. I appreciated the transparency. During this interview we also chatted briefly about our personal interests outside of work; I mentioned my husband and she accidentally asked me if we have or planned to have children; another red flag. She quickly corrected herself and said she shouldn't have asked. She also later asked what my current salary was. While not illegal to ask in Georgia, it raised another red flag for me. Companies don't usually ask this question unless they're trying to pay you as little as possible. A candidate's value should be commensurate with their experience and qualifications, not their currenty salary. At the end of this interview, I was informed that they were creating a new position I may be well-suited for: Assistant Project Manager. I suspected I was being informed of this because they were leaning toward hiring the other individual. I was sent some information about this role and was invited to interview for it.
My fourth and final interview was for the Assistant PM position. This was a standard but relaxed interview. The company was not clear about their expectations for this role because it had never previously existed and they hadn't figured out what exactly they were looking for. There seemed to be some confusion on their part. At the end of the interview, I was told I would know more in a week. In a week, I reached out and was told to wait another week. This continued for 4 weeks until I was finally informed that they were no longer moving forward with this position and were going to put efforts into hiring for tech support instead.
My experience was lengthy and I was left with the impression that there is a lot of internal conflict and poor communication. It seemed that the company has a hard time making decisions.