I was contacted for an interview with the hiring manager on extremely short notice—less than 24 hours. After I pushed back, they gave me a few extra hours to prepare, but the process still felt rushed and transactional. It was hard to tell whether they were genuinely interested in hiring or simply going through the motions. There was also a clear disconnect between the recruiter and the hiring manager: the recruiter described the position as a new role, while the hiring manager referred to it as a backfill. That inconsistency made it difficult to understand the team’s actual needs or intentions.