First, I had a phone interview with an insider recruiter. Within a few days an HR person was scheduling a phone interview with the hiring manager. Next, my face to face interviews at the local office through the same corporate HR person. Unfortunately, the hiring manager was out sick so I had to return later in the week. Everyone was extremely nice and very casual. The SF office is the former TripIt startup office, so they still dress very casual. Even wearing dressed down, business casual I felt over-dressed. The biggest turn off was their encouragement that was obviously not real. I was told I would be flown up to Seattle or meeting others locally and I got crickets. The recruiter didn't reply for days, then did with a vague answer. I called the hiring manager directly and she got completely flustered, made an excuse to get off the phone and never called me back. Two weeks later I got a form rejection email from the HR scheduler. I'd say the process was handled badly and showed a lack of professionalism. I expected more interviewing for a Director position. I learned they hired someone who could work at corporate HQ in Seattle. They must have had a preference this way and didn't mention it. Again, not very professional. Considering most companies are on their very best behavior during interviews, I am happy to not get an offer. It would have been a difficult decision.

For my first real interview (after a conversation with an in-house recruiter), I was asked to prepare a presentation of how I would market their product. I was given little information and brought into a room with several people. It turned out they loved it. I had heard from the recruiter that I was one of two candidates and that they would be moving forward with me and would be sending me an offer. The morning of the day I would be receiving an offer, the recruiter called and said they had decided to hire someone internal instead. I didn't receive any follow up or regrets from anyone I would have been working with.