The process was quite weird for a big company, HR reached out via WhatsApp, and did the pre-screening via WhatsApp chat, not even call. I sensed some weirdness and I did a research on the HR and the position.
After that, the HR invited me to do an offline interview with the user. But my 'spidey-senses' came once again as the HR was not there to welcome me. I'm not saying that I held leadership roles in the past so they should respect me, but we all respect human presence? if that makes sense?
The interview was OK tho, the user also very welcome and I could feel the warmth in the room. But as soon as I leave the interview room, the HR just spoke to me via WhatsApp, although I knew that he was there somewhere.
After that interview, the HR messaged me on WA again to send me some pre-second interview task. The task was a complete brand strategy on something they are rebranding. I was OK with that and looking forward to the final interview with the management.
Fast forward to the final interview day, again, there's no HR to welcome me. From the lobby to the interview room, I was there on my own, even had to set up the screen alone (I mean??? come on???). The interview went OK, one of the management team was late due to the traffic, we had to do hybrid interview and after that she eventually came to the room for 3-5 minutes for final questions.
After the interview over, again, the HR didn't show up. Until, there's someone waiting outside for the next interview, and there he is (the HR) welcoming him and guiding him to the room. I overheard the name of the candidate and spent my evening googling the name. That's when I know that he is from the direct competitor of the company and holding quite the same title.
All the feels I felt now makes sense, I'm just a comparison, but they have made it very very obvious.