I applied online and HFF reached out quickly to set up an initial interview. The first round was me meeting with the office manager and the would-be direct supervisor. They contacted me within a week to set up a second interview to meet with the head of the Portland office and the other employees who worked there. The interviews were not particularly difficult, and I seemed to hit it off well with everyone for the most part (and they made sure to tell me time and time again that new hires "fitting in" with everyone was important to them). I left feeling a bit odd about the clique-ish culture, but confident that I would progress in the interview process. Within a couple of days, the office manager requested that I take a personality assessment and send her an example of past work (a packaged InDesign file) to her. She implied (or explicitly stated, I can't quite remember) that this was the last step. While I felt a bit uneasy about sending her an editable version of my intellectual property, I obliged (a job seeker's got to do what a job seeker's got to do). Once I sent it to her, I never heard back. I even tried to send a follow-up email confirming receipt. Crickets. I thought this was incredibly unprofessional and I felt disrespected and taken advantage of. I was willing to overlook the red flags I saw in the interview process in regards to company culture, as I was highly motivated to change jobs at the time. However, looking back, I'm so relieved things ended this way. If this is how they treat potential hires, they must be a horrific company to work for!

Do not bother with this group - they have you meet with so many people, take so many tests, than when you ask for feedback, they stop answering your emails. They are unprofessional and awful to deal with - avoid at all costs.