I interviewed with Ring Concierge and had one of the more concerning interview experiences of my career. The process involved multiple rounds and a significant time commitment. One stage required me, as a candidate, to participate in a live call evaluating a member of the sales team while posing as a client. As I was not a team member and not engaged in any formal capacity, I found it inappropriate to be placed in a position of assessing internal staff and providing evaluative feedback. This raised immediate concerns around transparency, professional standards, and how internal teams are supported! I was told the team would not be informed in advance, which further compounded those concerns. It also created a breakdown in trust for me, as it was unclear whether this exercise was intended to evaluate me, contribute to internal assessment, or both. The lines between those objectives were blurred. For delivering feedback regarding their sales process, the brief indicated there would be a discussion. However, when I met with administrative staff, I was asked to load a “presentation” onto a screen with my assessments of their sales team, which was not part of the original instructions. When senior leadership joined, the same expectation was repeated. This was surprising given the stated format. I had prepared based on the brief and attempted to guide the conversation back to a high-level discussion/Q&A, but the interaction remained misaligned due to the shift in expectations. Given my specific background, the overall process extended well beyond demonstrating fit for a role and into evaluating internal operations. This is work I perform professionally and is typically structured and compensated. Incorporating that level of input into an interview process, without clear scope, alignment, did not meet reasonable professional standards. I made an effort to keep my feedback high-level and appropriate to an interview setting. However, the questioning became increasingly specific, with notes taken throughout, which shifted the dynamic away from a candidate evaluation and toward detailed consulting work of internal processes. The overall stages of the interview overall were unclear, time-intensive, and misaligned at multiple stages. It required navigating shifting expectations while contributing substantive input without a defined framework that crossed the lines from an interview to a consulting position. I entered this process with genuine enthusiasm. Based on what I had seen and read about the brand and what it is building, I was truly interested in the opportunity and the team behind it. However, after engaging directly with senior leadership, that initial perception changed significantly. The lack of transparency, shifting expectations, and questionable structure of the process raised concerns that I could not overlook. Ultimately, this experience made it clear that this is not an environment or team I would choose to invest my time in, build within long term, or even engage with as a client.