I submitted my resume and cover letter online, and was asked to do a 15 minute phone screener within a few days. The interviewer (HR) was 5 minutes late to the 15 minute interview and didn't say anything about her being late, which I thought was strange. The interview was a standard walk me through your resume. At the end of the interview I asked about their hiring timeline and was told that they are in final negotiations with another candidate that they are extending an offer to. I was extremely confused as to why they reached out to schedule a first-stage interview in the first place if they were that far along with someone else, and everything I told them in my interview was already in my resume since it was just a few minute introduction.
Definitely a weird and off-putting interview experience that really soured me on the company. I was looking forward to the interview and excited about their mission and the possibility of working there. As a growing startup, you'd think that they would seek to build a talent pipeline even if that exact role is not the best fit at the moment, rather than treating candidates as disposable. Hopefully company leadership reads these reviews and improves their HR, because it doesn't look like I'm the only one who had a bad experience.