Informal off site first interview, 1:1 in hotel bar. I was welcomed and made to feel very relaxed. Even bought me lunch. Interviewer was very knowledgeable and asked sensible pertinent questions. Two way discussion. All the information was available. Very positive experience.

I applied to DataSource Consulting via an ad they had posted on LinkedIn. After a few weeks, I was contacted by a recruiter stating that he wished to speak further and that I seemed like a "great match" for the position. The initial phone screen consisted of the usual questions of what I have been doing and an overview of the position. After this discussion, the recruiter wanted to move forward by having me interview with one of the Sr. Project Managers/Managers. The second interview was conducted about a week later and went well as it seemed more about a collaborative discussion than an interview. The manager felt confident with our discussion and wanted to move forward by having me speak with one of the directors. After two weeks had passed, I spoke with the director who spent almost the entire hour grilling me with consecutive questions that sounded like they came from a scripted list. When I had a brain lapse due to exhaustion during one of the questions, her tone of voice changed and did not mention any further movement for the position or any further communication for that matter. While I felt that the interview went well, it was clear that I didn't satisfy all of her ticked boxes. After this third interview, the company ghosted me for a few weeks. I followed up with the recruiter to inquire about the process and also to the manager who interviewed me. The response was a rather terse email from the recruiter telling me to refrain from contacting anyone else but him in this matter. Further, he quickly stated that they were moving forward with another candidate and that this was the most difficult position for him to recruit for. I later learned during a discussion with one of the Sr. Executives of DataSource Consulting that both the manager and the director who interviewed me were undecided on me as a candidate and that they instead decided to pull an existing PM off the bench to fill the position. It was clear that the recruiter had lied. I further learned that the director who interviewed me only had 4 months experience in her director role and only 1.5 years of project management experience, yet according to the recruiter, she passed judgement as to my qualifications. DataSource consulting needs to start being respectful and honest with their candidates and not subject them to weeks of interviewing only to ghost them and lie to them. This was one of the worst interviewing experiences I have had.