Disorganised. Chaotic. Continuously unclear on what the next steps were after each stage, of which, by the end, there were 10, yes 10 rounds in total for a Mid-Management hire in a small company.
Sometimes the Hiring Manager would be in the car during a pre-scheduled interview. Sometimes there would be a team-member present at the start of the call who wouldn't be properly introduced just told to dive straight in with questions that had little context communicated. Sometimes the interviews would go on for 2 hours, even though they had been scheduled for 45 mins. Sometimes I wouldn't hear back after the interview for a couple of days and then I would get a Google invite for a call the next day with less than 24 hours notice. In most of the calls, the Hiring Manager would speak over my answers and go off on a trail of her own.
Completed multiple detailed tasks to test my ability to complete the role, they were never referred to after submission, likely never looked at.
During an interview with another Director of the Company (not the Hiring Manager) it was clearly a like-for-like replica of one of the first interviews I had endured. Clearly no communication between the Directors in advance of my interview.
Towards the end of the process I was invited, with notice, to see the CEO. Having been through the most bizarre interview process at this point, at the time I found the interview confusing. On reflection, the interview was strategic and detailed - finding out my own personal values and experiences to see if I was a good fit for the company he was building.