Initial HR contact was approx. 1.5 months after resume and cover letter submission. HR rep and hiring manager was late for interview. Interview was rushed and closed within less than 1 hour.
HR called the day after for a second "informal group interview" along with 2 to 3 references. Was told that references would be contacted prior to the "informal team interview". HR then proceeded to contact ALL references (exceeding the 2 to 3 as requested) and were over 40 mins in length per reference to complete.
The "informal" group interview was over coffee and completely INAPPROPRIATE and against HR ethics. The interview consisted for direct team members staggered over 1 hour.
HR sent an email stating my application was not being moved forward. HR did NOT respond to providing feedback after disturbing all my references with the extensive paperwork and inappropriate interview questions.
Why did the hiring manager or HR not debrief the team on appropriate practices? There was no consideration of how these actions to my references would affect my current state and inappropriate questions would affect a candidate. I would have declined if there was an offer. HR also tried to low ball when asking for my expected salary range with the fact that there are "internal candidates so it'll be tough" PRIOR to the reference checks and group interview.
The interviewer was unprofessional, used swear words during the interview, felt the need to repeatedly state the importance of their presence in the organization and was rude and condescending. There were no specific questions asked that would have been appropriate to gauge fit, competency or capacity. To no surprise, that interviewer position was posted within 2 weeks- must have finally gotten they position they felt they deserved- internally.