There were a few rounds of interviews, and they split them up for me in a way that doesn't seem like it was their typical. I met with a recruiter for an initial screen. I then met with a hiring manager for 30 minutes. After this, I met with the hiring manager's boss for 30 minutes. He was going to be out of town when I was supposed to be interviewing, so I moved things around and jumped on a call with him early. I then had a few confusing emails with the recruiter for setting up the next round - I was supposed to meet with a technical lead, another product manager, and then two product managers for a case study.
These got rescheduled a few times, which was really no big deal for me, but I could see being problematic for somebody currently employed. Along the way, the recruiter provided me plenty of information about what to expect. They even sent me a roadmap of how the interviews typically go, and while mine didn't 100% follow that process, I found that really helpful.
The recruiter told me that this would be my last round of interviewing, and after that, if all went well, I could expect an offer. The engineering lead was friendly, and the next product manager I talked to was also very nice. Then I met with two product managers who asked me to do a live case study. The case study was a little confusing. The two product managers told me just to talk through what I would do, and presented me with a very ambiguous roleplay.
About halfway through, one of them asked me how I could be sure that the problem they had presented to me was really a problem. I understand what they were getting at, but it felt like a "gotcha" - if I'm presented with a problem in a job interview and told to solve it, it seems strange to me that I should be asking if the problem I'm being told to solve for the interview is really a problem. We got to the end of the interview, and they told me I did well. The two product managers interviewing me didn't seem 100% sure what the next steps would be, and told me I'd be interviewing with somebody I'd already interviewed with. When I told them this, they said that this would probably be the last round and that they'd follow up shortly. This was on a Tuesday. On a Friday, I received an email from the recruiter asking to schedule one final call with the hiring manager. I was sick, and unfortunately did not answer the email until Tuesday. I apologized for the delay, and said that I was free to speak whenever worked for them. Instead of scheduling the final round, I got an email stating the following: "I wanted to inform you that we received direction from the business today that we need to put the position on hold until further notice. As a result, we will not be moving forward with your candidacy or any additional interviews at this time. I apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate the time you took to apply and meet with us. We hope that you will remain interested in opportunities here, and I'll be sure to reach out if anything changes soon!"
So that was weird and disappointing. Not sure they have their stuff together.
