I met with the hiring manager first, then a couple other senior people, then the CEO. All of the interviews went well, and everyone ended their interviews telling me they liked me/would recommend me for the position.
Then I was told I had to meet with the founder (Bob) in NYC in his "home office". I spent an entire day traveling to/from NYC from my home in central CT, at my expense, as they did not offer to reimburse my train/parking/subway costs. This is the interview that I'm going to focus my review on.
When I arrived, the lobby was hot with the front door wide open, not well air conditioned. There is one small bench to sit on. In fairness, it's an apartment building, not an office building, but still I was in a position where I had to wait there. I wasn't allowed to go up until they called down for me. I arrived early, but I was told that Bob was finishing his lunch, so kept me waiting until the exact time I was scheduled to start.
When I went upstairs, an assistant greeted me at the elevator and made me take my shoes off, and leave my belongings in the elevator lobby. I was asked if I was sick and asked to use hand sanitizer, then allowed in. (If I had been advised in advance that I was going to have to take my shoes off, I would have worn an outfit with socks instead of being barefoot.)
I was then sent into a spare bedroom to meet the cats, Five and Seven. Then I was directed to the couch where I would conduct my interview. There may have been a "home office", but I was not in it. This was the living room and we both sat on couches. I was not offered any water/coffee/tea or the restroom. And I was barefoot.
The "interview" lasted about 45 minutes. During which time, Bob asked very few questions pertinent to the role, the company, or insurance in general. He told me about his affiliation with the military and 4 star generals. He told me what he did the night before, He told me that his building was being torn down and about his saga to find a new rental. He told me about his cats and their custom Porsche that was on the floor. He took 2 phone calls and made one additional call himself. It was someone from the military and they gossiped about who might get a role and about various politicians. He asked what recruiter had brought me in and when I told him, he responded that all recruiters are (two expletives that Glassdoor will not let me write - which is unforunate, since the interviewer said it to me and I feel I should be allowed to capture it), and repeated this same insulting phrase two additional times during the meeting. At one point, someone (the assistant?) started vacuuming in another room. This was hands down the most unprofessional interview I have ever taken part in.
A few days after the interview, the recruiter informed me that Bob wanted to "compare" me to another candidate. I was ready to withdraw at that point - what was there to compare? He asked me very little about myself, so unless it was to determine if that candidate had a better pedicure than I did, or if they were more impressed with the 4 star general references, what would he even be comparing?
Two weeks later, I was informed that I was not being offered the job, and neither was the other candidate. No feedback was provided, as "Bob does not provide feedback." It was just a no, even though the recruiter said that I was the hiring manager's top choice.
Do yourself a favor, if you are going to interview here. Find out if you are going to have to "interview" with Bob as part of the process. If you are, then run away, fast! It is not worth all of the aggravation, and based on the glass door reviews on working there (that I had not actually read until I was on the train), I think I dodged a bullet anyway.