Interviewed for 2 teams (Team A and Team B) - see below for saga: Initial conversation with the recruiter for Team A went reasonably well - was told that my level of in-depth oncology experience may be insufficient, but was put in touch with the hiring manager after the recruiter and hiring manager connected. Assumed hiring manager was willing to consider me. Interviewed over zoom with ~5 people - fairly process specific questions, and discussions on past experience. Team seemed professional and nice. A day or two later, was verbally informed that I had an offer for Team A (to the point where references were requested). Flag 1: I was told the hiring manager for Team A changed over the course of the interview process. In the meantime, interviews for Team B were frantically setup for the following week based on initial positive conversations with Team B's hiring manager. This was in spite of my gentle suggestion that only the time-sensitive conversations be setup. Flag 2: Team B's junior team members seem to be changing roles away from interfacing with Team A. I was informed that if I was interested, I can meet Team A in person, and there is a cursory follow-up video call with a senior team member in Team A. I admit that I did not do my best on the content experience portion with the senior team member in Team A, partially because I was coming off another set of interviews for Team B (and on top of my very full workload in my continued role) and maybe am limited in the type of experience being sought after. Figured I would hear feedback on Team A if my experience / performance was insufficient. Following day, full panel of in-person conversations for Team A - team seemed friendly and professional. Was not quite interrogated on my experience. No real concerns - continued positive experience. New hiring manager for Team A stayed on past the interview time frame in discussion. New hiring manager for Team A states "hope it all works out", but assumed this was in reference to my continued evaluation with Team B. Two days later, returned on-site to complete my interviews for Team B. One signal here was that an interview I had for Team A got replaced with only Team B interviews on my drive up to the interview. Team B also seemed positive. Team B's hiring manager said that both Team A and Team B work fairly closely together, and I will get good exposure regardless and the company is interested in having me. Another signal here is that Team B's leadership did not meet with me as initially planned - was told they were under the weather (which is reasonable, but in retrospect wondering if the company was well aware of the next sequence of events). At this stage, was still under the impression that as a candidate, I had my choice of teams. Took the weekend to think through things, talked to more mentors and recognized that Team A will be a better career trajectory. Called Team B's hiring manager immediately on Monday and withdrew my application from Team B. Still no negative signal, beyond potentially working together in the company. Informed my past managers for reference checks regarding Team A. Turned down a couple of offers over the weekend from other companies I was not as interested in. Passed on the references to the recruiter. Late Monday, recruiter for Team A wanted to connect. Was informed by the recruiter for Team A on Tuesday that given the need of Team A for deep content experience, and executive leadership goals for such content experience - my offer is rescinded for Team A. No call from either of the hiring managers for Team A. As a candidate, I have to inform my references who up till now have always had the best impression of me. In addition, I have turned down a couple of lower priority offers. Not offended by the decline - it's completely appropriate if Team A is seeking more in-depth content experience and/or are evaluating more candidates. I will, however, state that the recruiter and hiring managers for Team A really should fine-tune what exactly they are seeking and also be clear that they are evaluating a number of candidates. This is not a start-up where as a candidate, it's reasonable to expect a fair amount of adaptability. It's a well-known, and established company with folks with extensive industry and management experience. The expectation is they would know what they are looking for, and ask the go/no-go questions to get to those answers. Also, do not believe the offer unless it's written up and expect the unexpected in terms of the organizational structure.
