I was contacted by a recruiter for a Senior Consultant position and had a brief phone call with him, where he was mainly trying to sell me on the benefits of working for Veeva. After that call, he set up time for me to talk to the hiring manager. I had a phone interview with the hiring manager, learned more about the role, then was asked to go through the candidate exercise. I spent upwards of 40 hours on the candidate exercise. I got extremely positive feedback on my performance. Blind References: I got a call a day or two after my candidate exercise from a former supervisor of mine. She had been contacted via LinkedIn for a reference. This struck me as odd, since I did not provide any references. I then learned that the hiring manager had gone on LinkedIn and started messaging former colleagues of mine. This seemed unethical, possibly illegal, and definitely made me lose trust in the hiring manager. Job history interview: The next step was an in-person meeting with another member of the team for a "job history interview." We met at a Starbucks, since everyone works remotely. He asked me in-depth questions about every position I have ever had in my career, why I joined, how I got the job, and why I left. He recorded every word I said verbatim. I was particularly confused by the timing of this interview - you made me go through a 40+ hour exercise before you were sure that my experience lined up with what you were looking for? I was then asked to give references, and when I said, "I think my references were already contacted," he pulled out a sheet of paper with a summary of the call that had been held with my old boss - I saw her name and title on the paper in front of him. He tried to cover up the fact that my references had been called, saying "Oh, I thought this was a mistake and it was someone else's reference." Clearly, communication was lacking internally and the cover-up for the blind reference was botched. This person then proceeded to break down my compensation for me, and quote me numbers that he thought I would be making "realistically". I was in awe at the ~30-40% raise he was projecting I would receive over my current salary. Upper Management: Next, I had a call with the head of the department over Skype - he seemed very eager and excited, and again was trying to sell me on coming to work for Veeva. He seemed like somebody I would get along with - probably the best interview I had. The final call was with a mid-level manager who seemed to be calling all the shots. I get on the phone with this person and she proceeds to tell me that they are on the fence about bringing me in as a Senior Consultant based on my experience, and that they are now considering me for a Consultant role. Through 6 weeks of interviewing, I was never told that the title was in question (and title is tied to compensation). How could you be that opaque? I told the recruiter about my concerns, and he assured me that "everything was on track in terms of title and compensation we had discussed." So I waited. I finally got an offer a few days later. Not only was the offer for a Consultant position (instead of Senior) and significantly different from the numbers I had been quoted throughout the process, but the base was $30K lower than my current salary. I understand in roles with mix of base and OTE/bonus, you often have to take a step back in salary, but I was very transparent about what my comp requirements were from day 1. I would never have wasted so much of my time. If you are interviewing with Veeva, a few words of advice: 1 - Talk about compensation and title directly with the hiring manager, and talk about it early. If they judge you for that, so be it. You'll regret it if you don't. 2 - Ask about the process for reference checking - use the recruiter as a conduit to have this conversation with the hiring manager, and again, do it early. My references were contacted randomly and without my consent very early in the process, and it caught me very off guard. Don't let them compromise your privacy in this process. 3 - Ask to have the job history interview before the candidate exercise. There is no reason anyone should have to go through that exercise until Veeva is sure that you meet their criteria on paper. If something changes after that interview (i.e. they downgrade your title or compensation), then at least you have the opportunity to decline the exercise and exit the process having not wasted weeks of your life.