Was contacted by a recruiter who was a little anxious and almost begged me to consider a role there. (They’d laid off 20% of the company a month or two prior) The entire process was slow and clunky. They were basically seeking someone who could do two different jobs — UX research and consumer insights — in a single role. Plus manage and grow a team of researchers. Plus having a deep level of familiarity with securities trading (the property was Yahoo Finance). I’m one of perhaps a dozen people in the whole country who fit the profile. After a decent initial interview with the hiring manager, it was a chaotic disaster. They scheduled a portfolio review, intro and review of two case studies but only allowed 30 minutes for the whole thing. A real PR should take an hour. I had to rush to cram in remaining content. Afterwards was a series of interviews with people across the business. Most were late and truncated the interview to about 20 to 25 minutes. None of them had a consistent view of the role or what they wanted from it. Several asked basic questions about methodology that would be more appropriate for a junior hire, and which burned away time that could be better spent talking about business challenges. A couple communicated that they “understood research” and proceeded to discuss stuff that’s 15+ years out of date. I’d prepared materials detailing key areas of expertise, by the request of the recruiter and hiring manager, and they were provided to the interviewers. Not one of them (apart from the hiring manager) had reviewed any of the materials that they asked me to provide. All of them filled up the time so I got no chance to get follow up questions asked. I asked if I could email those questions and they agreed. None of my emailed questions ever got answered. I got an anonymous rejection email from an automated system in the wee hours of the morning over a month after the cumbersome process had begun. I expressed surprise to the recruiter that he didn’t personally call me back to let me know they wouldn’t be moving forward; he promised to follow up and “find out what’s up.” He never did. I was advised by the hiring manager that I didn’t make effective use of the 30 mins and was “a storyteller” but that the team sought “no nonsense.” Storytelling is an essential component of great research, as any experienced practitioner will tell you. Months and months later, I see the position is still unfilled, with over 800 applications on LinkedIn alone. I doubt it will ever be filled, with a process like this one.