I was directly approached by the Hiring Manager on LinkedIn and invited to interview. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Softgarden before, but I was positively surprised by the first conversations – both the recruiter and the Hiring Manager saw me as a great fit for the Senior Sales role. My interview with the Hiring Manager went especially well – he told me I had delivered one of the best presentations and preparations he had ever seen, that he wanted me in his team, and that I was a great cultural fit. I was told that I was basically “through” and would just need to meet a few team members in the final round. Unexpectedly, just one day later, I received a rejection with reasons (lack of HR experience, short time in SaaS sales) that were known from the very first interview. It honestly felt as if the Hiring Manager had initially stood fully behind me but then had to withdraw his support due to internal, likely political reasons. The process was structured and professional at first but ended in a way that felt inconsistent and disappointing. In hindsight, I could have saved the time and effort I invested. Especially for a company that sells recruiting software and promotes a great candidate experience, I would have expected more transparency and reliability.