I had a great interview process through multiple rounds— about 7 interviews— feeling like I nailed it every time and the job was a great fit, and I was getting enthusiastic feedback relayed from the recruiter. But when it came time for the final round with the director of the team, it was going great until he asked about my attendance at a prior industry event. I mentioned it occurred while I was out on maternity leave. Unfortunately, from that point forward came a whole line of questioning from him about motherhood: how old was my baby, what did I like most about being a mother, on and on. I was so uncomfortable with all of this that I lost my confidence and my body language changed, and I struggled through the rest of the interview. The director kept going with the family questions. The whole experience with him was upsetting; as a hiring manager myself, I know it is a no-no to bring this up, but I didn’t mention it to the recruiter because I still desperately wanted the job. After this final interview, they came back to tell me I was no longer a fit but they wanted to offer me a lower-level manager role on the same team. Luckily I found a better senior manager job at a different company where my parental status was not part of the interview.

I completed all rounds of interviews (including the presentation round) but there is silence since a month now. It is very odd that a company like Adobe hesitates so much to simply reject a candidate. HR told me that my candidature is on hold and they wish to interview other candidates which is completely fine but you cannot expect to keep a profile on hold for more than a month since the last interview. Just be honest and reject a candidate - cannot keep someone hanging like this. Just send a rejection email if you're not sure about the candidate and continue interviewing others till you find the right one. Painfully slow interview process.