For context, I have been searching for a better position since my last job, which I left in the summer of 2020 because of toxic program management (so toxic that the CEO offered to be my reference after I announced my resignation). The pandemic only stifled my job search even though I felt like I was working overtime job-searching. Even after having completed a fellowship last year and becoming an active advisory board member, I have completed at least 80 rounds of job interviews to no avail, and at this point, it’s starting to feel personal to me as an Arab woman. I applied for the position because I was referred to it by a white woman with no extensive experience prior to her role before she got hired by the organization and got promoted. I thought this was a promising opportunity so I gave it a shot. Here’s how the interview went. I spoke to the recruiter, then talked to the manager before I was asked to complete an assignment, which was to create a digital marketing plan with the goal of generating event sign-ups. They appreciated the assignment and the work I put in, so I spoke with the program team, which was honestly one of the best interview rounds I’ve had because it was honest, hard questions were being asked, and not to mention the team was beautifully diverse even though they could be better off with more Black staff members…… Then I speak with the executive leadership…. Which was a complete joke. They barely asked anything about my advisory board work and instead focused on my internships from years ago because they found it to be the most relevant (even though the job description explicitly stated that you didn’t need to have digital marketing experience). Also, they kept asking me how I measured success at an internship with a think tank or while I was reporting to senior management for a UN agency……. 
The interview also felt like more of an interrogation than an actual top-grading interview. For example, they asked me how my manager would rate me. I gave them a number and hope that we’d move on. But then they kept piggybacking while asking “Ok why this number and not the number below it?” The interview felt more hyper-focused on my loyalty to previous management than it was on the actual merit of my work. Overall, I would’ve loved to work with their fantastic program team, but it looks like their executive leadership needs a revamp.