I started the process with an initial interview with the recruiter, followed by an interview with the two team leads. During the second interview with the team leads, they mentioned that the position I had applied for was too junior for my experience. In fact, while discussing the original position with them, I realized at that moment that it was indeed too junior compared to my 20 years of international experience. We then decided together to pursue the team lead path and I applied for that position. After ten days, I had to follow up with the recruiter because I hadn’t received the schedule for the interview with the director, which was confirmed shortly afterward. During the interview with the director, the questions were very basic compared to my international experience in multinational contexts. From the very beginning, it became clear that the director might not have felt fully comfortable managing a resource at my seniority level, and may have preferred someone more junior and easier to supervise, even within a team lead role. If there had been any doubts about my ability to succeed in the role, I would have been asked to complete a case study, which was not requested, as they likely already knew I would have handled it flawlessly. I followed up a week later to ask about next steps, but three weeks have passed without any feedback. Ghosting by HR should not happen. At the very least, candidates should receive feedback, and ideally, it should be constructive, logical, and meaningful. Time is a precious resource, especially for professionals with two decades of experience, and respectful, structured feedback is the minimum standard. Another very important aspect that companies, especially start-ups, should understand is that an interview cannot consist of only a couple of minutes for the candidate’s questions while the rest is solely the company asking questions. The selection process should be bilateral: the company evaluates the candidate, but the candidate also evaluates the company. In my case, I was given only two minutes by the director for questions that were crucial for me, given my high level of seniority. From this point forward, this company will certainly never be considered by me for any future opportunities.