Was contacted by Talent Acquisition. Was told that my application was specifically (the only) one selected by the hiring manager...she told me I should be excited when I sounded shocked. The interview was first issued by the hiring manager. The interview went well until she told me that I was competing against someone else that was really good and it would be a difficult decision, and to come back the following week. When returning, I had a "staggered" interview by some of the leadership team...not all at once, but one at a time. Everyone went explicitly into what THEY did, no real questions for me pertaining to my skill set, with the exception of one person who asked me what my first 90 days would look like as well as how I would design out a training. After speaking to them all, I was a bit foggy on what exactly the job would entail, besides maybe a glorified trainer... not "organizational effectiveness" type of duties were heard, but told that would be the vision eventually. The owner of the company was great and actually ASKED ME about my Ph.D. which was a "preferred" requirement for the position. The hiring manager did not ask me, but I voluntarily told her. I spent over 2 hours during the 2nd interview process. Everyone gave me their cards (not sure why). When completed, the hiring manager came in with both thumbs up and seemed very excited.. told me I kept everyone engaged and everyone liked me. She AGAIN said... it would be a difficult decision (which to me, is a way of saying you're not the one), and then proceeded to say.. well I am blessed to have two great people interview so I can't lose. Very odd. I left with uncertainty and not very excited about the position due to the feeling of wasted time and energy with the decision already really being made. The company seemed like a great place to be, but the odd feeling was a bit contradictory to the excitement of the thumbs up and then the.." well the other person is realllly good and on point etc." Very inappropriate to compare how awesome (or not) other candidates are with your interviewee. The position also posted as needing an e-learning development piece, which was never asked of me in terms of my experience. I did send a sample of what I designed ahead of time, but was just told they don't even have the software to do it... yet.