The VP of marketing reached out to me via LinkedIn to see if I was interested in chatting as he was building a team. I did not apply for this role. The meeting went really well… but that’s where my good experience ends. The talent acquisition person then took over next steps. She was in my inbox all hours of the day and night on behalf of the CEO trying to schedule and reschedule appointments. Important to note that this all went down between 12/16 and 1/6 - over the holidays. That did not stop this group from emailing me at 11pm or later, asked me to meet on Sunday to accommodate the CEO, emailed me on holidays to discuss meeting appointments, all which I was chalking up to their eagerness to get me on the team. I was asked to build and present a case study during this meeting to the CEO, which I had to get done over my Christmas PTO to ensure I was prepared for the meeting on 12/30. The CEO shows up 5 minutes late, asks me to sit on hold (on camera) while he reads the notes in the system to avoid asking me duplicate questions (clearly unprepared for this meeting). After sitting on hold for 10 minutes, his phone rang, and it was a personal call from his mom. He went off camera for about 5 mins and came back telling me she was annoyed he was working over the holidays (I don’t disagree!) After that, he went on a few tangents asking questions he wanted answers to. The questions were disjointed and had zero to do with the role I’d be in or my past experience. He then proceeded to ask probing questions that were highly inappropriate given the competitive nature of our business. When I mentioned it would be difficult for me to answer some of this for legal reasons, he chuckled. He never asked me about my background, successes at other orgs, or even how I’d approach anything in this role. During my replies to several of these questions, I mentioned the assignment I was asked to do and tried to pivot the conversation to that work and to try to get us on track. I never got to present the unpaid work I did. When it was finally my turn to ask questions in the last few mins of the meeting, I asked the CEO things like “how do you see your business driving primacy for your financial institutions and their end customers” to which he replied saying “I have spoken on this topic” and proceeded to drop a link for me to go and watch on my own. He would not actually reply. He avoided answering ALL of my business questions. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the CEO was truly phishing for competitive intel. Finally, when we got back from holidays, I received a “no-reply” email saying I didn’t get the job. A no reply email after these folks sent countless emails to me at late hours and holidays. Needless to say, if these folks reach out to talk to you, I’d avoid giving them your time and bandwidth.