I was approached by a recruiter agent in month of Jan 2021 for a role of Product Manager - Application Platforms with this organisation to be based out of Bangalore. After a month, received an intimation scheduling an interview round with the hiring manager based out of UK.
There was a lot of ambiguity w.r.t. role, reporting structure, travel - all of which was told would be addressed in the hiring manager call
The initial round went well with questions around existing skills and product, success metrics, multi variate tests and behavioral. The individual was very accommodating, unbiased and respectful, something that truly appealed about the role.
After a week received a shortlist for the next round. Since I had a few questions about the exact team, sought a discussion with the HR. After a brief period of silence (2 weeks), received a call from the Indian HR which did clarify about my questions. Had a discussion scheduled a couple of times next week...but the HR never sent the invite. One fine day, the lady called to ask if I was available very next day, which unfortunately had a clash with a launch review.
The interview finally happened a month later during which the product director seemed least interested in interviewing and also switched off his video feed citing bandwidth issues. He kept repeating he needed a second opinion from a colleague, which was a big turn off as a candidate. Normally, such interviews evaluate basic PM skills such as design, analytical, estimation and tech with a couple or two case studies. But the attitude was of just being done with the process. Was glad to have received a rejection mail, dodged the bullet
On checking back with the agent, came to know that an earlier candidate had backtracked on joining day due to similar experience. Goes to show how handful of people spoil a global brand...