Met with hiring manager for 45 min, then 30 min recruiter call, followed by a presentation and panel interviews scattered over two days. I got great feedback from the interviewers and recruiter, so it seemed like I might get an offer. The interview process was fine, but what turned the whole thing sour was waiting to hear back on their decision. Even though the recruiter (and hiring manager at times) would check up on me weekly or bi-weekly, there was always a leading update, like 'you'll hear next week' (then no updates), or a nerve-wracking 'company is going through a planning exercise' (without giving me more insight into what that meant, or how it might affect my role. After 2 months of this dance, the recruiter finally told me the business decided to close the position.

The interview process appeared pretty streamlined. HR was very receptive and fast-tracked me to meet with the Hiring Manager first since HR would be out of the office for a bit. There were 9 separate calls altogether during the first round. 2 with HR, 2 with the hiring manager, a group interview for presenting my work, and then 3 one on one interviews with the individual team members. I made a presentation showcasing my portfolio and process to the team the position was for. Everyone on the team was very friendly and receptive. The level of effort for the presentation depends on the depth you plan to go into to show the process. After the final interview, I was later contacted by HR and was told it was between another designer and me. I was told that they wanted to recommend me for another team outside the department I was applying to so they can keep both of us and they thought I would be a great fit. After accepting the recommendation I went through the interview call process with the hiring manager and new team members again. This time some of the team members appeared less enthusiastic and were unaware of my previous interview process. This was round 2 of interviews resulting in 14 calls total with most being 40-60min a piece over a 2-month span. Afterward, I received a decline letter with no feedback regarding why I was passed for either position I had applied for.