For me, it started with pursuit by one of their recruiters. They were persistent and professional (at the start), which I respect, so I gave them a shot. The process slowly degraded from there. I had a phone interview with the recruiter. Then a face to face with the recruiter and the sales manager, followed by another phone interview with the sales director. After those discussions, I was being told I was "a perfect fit". For me, there were a few red flags on the topics of professional autonomy and culture, plus they all seemed to be there and everywhere else for <2 years (a company with 60% yoy growth for 5+ years?) I believe it multiple impressions and don't believe in contempt prior to investigation. So, when they asked me to come back in for some face to face "conversations", I agreed. I met the director in person, their VP of sales and their CRO in succession. The process lasted about three hours. The first two gentlemen engaged me in a conversation as a sales professional on the same level. I enjoyed speaking with them both. They were prepared and asked challenging and fair questions. However, the CRO, let's just say I wasn't a big fan. He seemed rushed, distracted (kept looking out of the conference room window) and not there to qualify but rather to disqualify. It was not a real conversation by any stretch. The beginning was superficial and once I asked him what questions he had for me, he literally hit me with about ~15 questions in a row without any pause. It's one way to go but again, it felt like a disqualification exam and a bit much for the first time we were scheduled to "talk". Once I was done, the hiring manager came in and said he would get back to me with feedback from all three of them. That took about a week (another red flag) and the feedback from the CRO was negative (shocker). Despite my instinct, I agreed to appeal to the CRO based at the hiring managers request and to see where the offer was compared to others I had. I put together a short presentation with some background examples to rebut the CRO's two concerns (yes, only two concerns out of seven rounds of interviewing questions) and addressed him directly. He did not even courtesy reply but the hiring manager indicated he would speak to the CRO and get back to me. That took another week and when I finally caught up with the hiring manager, he indicated he had not spoken to the CRO but they were "going another direction". It worked out because I would not have agreed to any further steps without an offer and even if the offer was the best I had seen, I likely would have turned it down.
