The hiring manager who interviewed me seemed to be more interested in the organization I was working with than in me as a potential hire. I didn’t think much of it back then, but it struck me as a red flag in hindsight, especially in light of what happened after the interview. When I followed up with the talent acquisition team for an update after a week or so, I was told that I had done – to quote them verbatim – ‘exceptionally well’ in the interview. I was pleasantly surprised, not with the feedback per se (I knew I had done to the best of my ability) but with the fact that they were open to sharing the feedback at all (I mean, you know how HRs tend to be). Now, it’s only natural to get your hopes up in such a scenario, so I was keeping fingers crossed. But soon another red flag showed itself: I was told my candidature was on hold every time I followed up for the next few weeks (yes, despite the positive feedback on the interview). This went on for a month or so. At that point it started becoming increasingly clear they had no intention of hiring me and were only leading me on. The talent acquisitionist I was coordinating with, to her credit, eventually admitted as much (not in that exact wording of course, but that was the gist of it at the end of the day). When I wondered what went wrong, despite the positive feedback on my performance in the interview, and sent a formal email requesting to share further feedback, they were conveniently silent and never responded. I didn’t expect any better, to be honest. The posting for the vacancy was up for almost half a year, if memory serves me right, so either the talent acquisition team and the hiring manager were in cahoots to string candidates along until someone willing to work for peanuts came along or the hiring manager was too preoccupied with looking for the elusive unicorn. Either way, this whole fiasco says more about this organization’s culture than any candidate’s eligibility. Funnily enough, they were recently awared Great Place to Work. Well, some great place it is! So, yes, if you’re reading this and planning to apply to the content development team based out of India, be mentally prepared just in case a similar situation occurs again.