no interview, informal referral and subsequent job offer received. The university is built almost entirely on referrals. If you know someone, this is by far the easiest way to get a job there.

Applied for the job online, was emailed a pre-interview questionnaire with technical questions about the job. Based on my answers, I was invited for an interview. Interview was a panel with 3 people who asked questions from a list and wrote my answers. The interview took about an hour. Following the interview, I received an email that said " Your interview went well and we are considering hiring you for one of our two position. We would now like to ask you for references.". My references let me know that they were indeed contacted and gave good reviews. 10 days after the reference request, I got an email from the director apologizing for the delay and telling me ("Dear Interviewee") that the department had received another grant and that dealing with it was causing some delay in hiring for this position, but soon they would be able to refocus on hiring and he would keep me posted. Never heard from these people again after that email. No rejection, no response either way. I felt like this was a huge waste of my time and I wish they didn't bother my references if they weren't serious about hiring me. I would be wary of ever interviewing with this organization again.