**Interviewed for Director of Talent and Shared Services, declined offer — still waiting for travel reimbursement** Challenge moved quickly through their recruiting cycle. After an initial HR phone screen, I had a call with the CFO. Based on that conversation, they fast-tracked me to an in-person onsite at their Walker headquarters. The onsite itself was chaotic. Two people scheduled to participate didn't show up. Two others arrived late. Throughout the interviews, talent management was presented as a critical component of the role — and for good reason. Talent acquisition and talent management are interdependent functions, especially in a role responsible for corporate HR coordination. I was told at the end of the day that I would hear back the following week with next steps. I submitted travel expense reimbursement requests on May 5 after asking HR about the process on May 4. When I hadn't heard back by May 18, I followed up via email. Instead of hearing back about next steps as promised, the CFO called me on May 26 with an offer. During that call, I mentioned the outstanding reimbursement and he confirmed it would be paid. He also informed me during that same call that talent management had been removed from the role scope. This doesn't reflect sound organizational design — talent acquisition and talent management are operationally interdependent, especially in a role responsible for corporate HR coordination. The change revealed either leadership that doesn't understand HR function architecture, or internal politics overriding strategy. As of early June, nearly two weeks after the CFO's commitment, the reimbursement has not been processed. At this point, I don't expect it will be. I've made no further attempts to follow up. The interview process, the scope change, the broken promise on expenses — it all tells the same story. This is an organization where chaos masks dysfunction, where commitments don't translate to follow-through, and where strategic decisions are driven by internal politics rather than operational logic. The speed of interview scheduling was the only thing organized about the entire experience. I declined their offer for structural reasons, but this experience confirmed that decision was absolutely right.