2 phone interviews - first with HR, second with hiring manager. The interview with the hiring manager went really well - seemed like a good fit and good rapport. They were very prompt about getting back to me and set up the in person interviews for within the next week (i.e. interest seemed very high). The in person interviews were with 4 different people - business SME, HR, lab program manager, hiring manager. The first interview went really well. The second was going well, until they asked questions about work history - "what was your greatest career setback?" which I answered by telling them about a negative experience at a toxic company, which did legitimately set back my career. The HR person kept asking probing questions, which I answered honestly- big mistake, apparently. 3rd interview was ok - talked about my science background, in addition to the IT background. The hiring manager interview was perplexing - the person just went through the motions, asking the standard questions, without any of the previous rapport or enthusiasm, and sent me out the door. They said I would hear back within a week - did not hear back. Sent an email to HR - they replied, saying that they left a message on my voice mail, but there was no message, and the answer was apparently no. So based on this course of events, it appears that the HR person did not like me describing that I had a negative experience elsewhere (despite asking the repeated questions about it), and communicated that to the hiring manager BEFORE that person interviewed me, which is a little mind boggling. It aligns with some of the reviews here about tone policing and cultish behavior - apparently you have to be positive about negative experiences, or simply lie about your biggest career setback, so that it makes you look like a shiny happy person. Despite this, I applied for another similar position a little while later, and at the same time, got an email asking if I wanted to follow up about the interview experience I just completed, to which I replied Yes and identified myself. The next morning, I received a follow about the position I applied for - no thanks to this one too, and no one contacted me to ask for feedback on my interview experience either - persona non grata. Overall, this reflects very poorly on the company - I was excited about the role and fit, but I guess I wouldn't have fit into the shiny happy culture (with an emphasis on the 'cult' part).