Within days following an employee referral, someone contacted me to schedule a phone interview. It was a 30-minute phone interview, and I did most of the talking. There was very little engagement on the part of the interviewer except to invite me to respond to three very simple prompts: "Tell me about yourself and why you want to work here," "Describe a research project," and "Describe your management experience." The interviewer had worked at the company for some time in different roles. She introduced herself at the beginning and explained she mostly did recruiting for research positions now. She was very friendly but did almost no talking after that opening introduction and the prompts. No follow-up questions and no response when I asked at several different points during the interview if she needed more details or clarification or had any follow-up questions. I've never had an interview, even a phone interview, quite like this before. I felt like I was talking to a wall through most of it. No chemistry, positive or negative. Just a wall of silence. The questions weren't difficult, but it was impossible to gauge her reaction to what I was saying. Maybe that was the point? That this was supposed to be less a conversation and more a sales pitch? I had prepared in advance but was prepared for a conversation. In retrospect, I think I should have prepared for a PowerPoint presentation, imagining my resume as the slides and assuming no interaction with the "audience." I also think I should have done more to flatter the company in my "why do you want to work here" response. I talked about what I could offer them, but when I finished, the interviewer said, "okaaay," before moving on to the next prompt in a tone that made me think I'd missed the mark. It was the only voice clue I had. In a nutshell, I went into the interview with a very favorable impression of the company but ended it with a much less favorable one, even though the interviewer seemed like a nice enough person from her brief introduction. As a mid-career professional, I expect an interview, even a phone screening, to be a two-way exchange. And that means more than just the standard interview conclusion: "Do you have any questions for me?" Just as the company needs to figure out if a candidate is the right fit for the company, the candidate needs to figure out if the company is the right fit for them. And, speaking personally, I can't do that if I'm talking to a wall. So, I guess it's good no one wasted any more of anyone's time.