First I met with the Director of Development. At that same first meeting I met with the longest-tenured person in the department (2.5 years) and the consultant they hired to work on Direct Mail. Many weeks passed before they emailed to have me come back to meet with the Executive Director and HR - but surprised me by also having me meet the President. I was there for an hour and a half. HR responded to my questions and concerns about the work environment with answers that, according to the most recent glassdoor reviews, may have been lies. When I emailed follow-up questions to HR and the folks I met with after having been told to email them with any questions, the Director of Development called me to answer my questions and essentially told me to not bother them anymore (don't bother HR?) and direct all questions to her. CMI then requested writing samples, salary information, and references before rejecting me. I told them who my most thorough reference would be (my most recent manager and the person for whom I worked the longest) but my reference said they never connected. They did call my manager from my first job ever, seven years ago. I am not sure if they reached out to any of my more recent references, who were all listed along with titles and organizations so it could be compared to my resume to note career timing. I am not sure why they would bother my references if they weren't going to hire me, and if they got a bad reference (which would surprise me) I am surprised they would not call my most recent and longest-tenured manager to get her take. I was disappointed by the decision. When I asked what influenced their decision to decline me so I could improve my candidacy, they refused to answer.