Total of 5 interviews with a total of 11 people. over a period of 3 months. The first two were phone calls and the following 3 were video panels. There was also a written assignment about half way through this process. The people I met with were friendly and easy to talk to. The reasons I rated negatively are as follows: 1) a lot of big gaps with no communication + incorrect information as far as scheduling etc. given as the process moved forward 2) it was clear there was a bit of drama happening in the org, 3) after speaking to 10 individuals, doing a written sample and spending 3 months in communication i literally never heard from this agency again. Not even an HR auto generated decline. In the end, I woud not have been able to accept an offer, as I went under contract to buy a home around the time of the final panel interview and a chane of employment would have prevented my approval.
I get that recruiting is a difficult process. I've been on the other side of it so i know just how any factors can come into play. Nonetheless, it is totally inappropriate to spend such an extended amount of time with a candidate, ask them to produce work (i notice this is becoming more common these days) and ask them to interview with so many individuals without any explanation of where the process is leading. A few other things gave me pause- the members of different panels seemed to all have a very different take on what the job entailed (ok, no biggie, that's expected with a new position, right?) but one of the panelists told me that i "needed to know what i was getting into" and that there had been "zero accountability from program staff". This person was visibily upset and was essentially trying to warn me off. The other panelists seemed uncomfortable. Now, it does seem that this agency is doing important, needed work, and many of the individuals I spoke to seemed to be mission driven and genuinely care about their contributions. I hope that they continue to move forward with all of the internal changes planned and that they, importantly, don't lose good candidates moving forward because of experiences like these.
