This is not a negative as much as it is a beware so my experience doesn’t happen to someone else as it was a sense of false hope, and expectations. I Applied online and HR reached out about 1-2 weeks later via email and wrote that they would reach out to have a phone interview. The interview was scheduled for 30 minutes and ended up lasting over an hour as we were discussing a lot of things. Job description, company culture, money, tentative start date and next steps. Good right? I thought so. We eventually figure out a date for a formal face to face interview and they write me saying “they are so excited to meet me” and “they can’t wait to meet me” and that my face to face interview is going to be scheduled for 2 hours and I will need to prepare a final presentation to teach and that I will be hosted by 4 members of sr leadership including directors and a CCO(chief culture officer) let me be clear however, when I arrived these individuals were beyond kind and a very warm welcoming. I did not get the feeling or nerves that this was the first time I had met any of these people. I thought the presentation went well I thought the conversation went extremely smooth and that I answered all the questions candidly. At the end of this interview I’m asked if I had any closing questions. I had gone around the table and asked my closing questions followed by my last question of “What are next steps” and I’m told “well we still have some phone interviews to finish up and have a few screenings yet and we’ll be in touch.” I immediately thought to myself 1 of 2 things. Either I didn’t deliver and BOMBED this interview because why else would you have a final interview with several members of sr leadership present for them to say they are still in the phone stages or do they just waste that kind of time with potential candidates and leadership? Had I known they were still in the phone screening process for this role I wouldn’t have put together a 4 hour ppt presentation and practiced for several hours. So I am under the impression that they are down to the final rounds here and it’s me vs 1-2 others at most and that would have been fine but the phone screenings told me that had no timetable or urgency to fill for this role and so threw my cards on the table and said “ I understand business needs are what they are but I recall a tentative start date in our initial discussion. Is that not a thing anymore?” They then replied “it is a start date for our next training, but we don’t necessarily have to have a trainer hired for that date” At this point I’ve told them that I already have been prolonging 2 other offers I received earlier in the week to see what this was company was about and I wanted to make a decision ASAP hoping that would help create a sense of urgency and when I had told them that they changed their tone of just yeah we will fill when we get to it type of attitude to “we will get back to you ASAP” and we ended the conversation. Best idea? Maybe, maybe not. Did that cost me my opportunity by possibly cornering them? Maybe. I looked at it as if I’m the best person for the job and they want me they wouldn’t have to interview others. I followed up that evening with a thank you letter only to get a call this morning (Monday). Stating “we understand that you have time sensitive things to attend to and that you’re a really strong candidate for this role and we really enjoyed our meeting with you but we are not ready to make a decision and still would like to continue the interview process” At this point I no longer really had an interest because I felt like a glorified plan B or I wasn’t really considered for this role. How can You say I’m a strong candidate but clearly not strong enough to be the right choice for your company if you’re still screening people on the phone? I wish they would have been up front and said they really weren’t in a rush to fill this role because I wouldn’t have gone through the process. I will say that the company seemed to be extremely loyal to the top management and vice versa and that struck a chord with me as that was something that I need in an employer and that was a primary reason for me applying from the beginning. I really and truly believed I had a shot at this position because they made it sound that way. I gave my presentation on culture in the work place focused with emphasis on motivational and engagement enablers. I really hope I didn’t just give them free advice due to me having to send this presentation over via email 😕