Interview: The interview itself was short, on point, and generally pleasant. There were three interviewers, and the conversation was focused and respectful. However, I was only informed that there would be three interviewers right before stepping into the interview room, which would have been better communicated earlier. HR Experience: The HR process fell short of expectations. I was asked to provide workplace references before an offer was made, which is uncommon in my experience. I requested to provide a reference from my previous company (instead of my most recent role, where I had only been for a short period) and was waiting for HR’s confirmation before sharing contact details and informing my former HR. Despite this, HR proceeded to request a reference through the company’s general enquiry form without my confirmation. This resulted in the request being routed to the company’s sales team instead of HR, which felt unprofessional. It appeared that the reference check was treated more as a procedural step rather than a meaningful one. I was fortunate that the salesperson and HR contact were on good terms with me and alerted me to the situation, otherwise I would not have been aware. Offer: The offer came in below my stated expectations, and the benefits were relatively weak. I attempted to negotiate, but the revised offer was still below expectations, so I ultimately declined. Overall: The interview panel experience was positive, but the HR handling of communication, reference checks, and offer management was disappointing and could be improved.