The people at Kashi are very nice, but the process is slow, bizarre, and can leave candidates exposed to their current employer. After applying online, I was scheduled for a phone interview with a third-party contractor. This took about 45 minutes and questions were of the typical situational variety ("Tell me about a time when..."). They also requested desired salary. After 2 weeks, I was scheduled for a phone interview with the hiring manager. This one-hour discussion was pleasant and conversational, again dominated by situational leadership questions. The hiring manager let me know that the next step would be a phone conversation with the GM (if I was selected).
About 2 weeks later, I received an email to schedule the phone interview with the GM. It took about 3 weeks to get this on calendars. Very similar questions to the conversation with the hiring manager, but this conversation only took about 25 minutes. Again, very friendly and very standard interview questions. I was told the next step would be an in-person day visit.
I received an email 2 days later inviting me out for a day visit, but due to scheduling conflicts on their end, the first available date was 6 weeks later. The day visit consisted of a panel presentation to all of the individuals with whom I would be speaking 1:1, followed by a series of 1 hour interviews with the Hiring Manager, the GM, another Marketing Director, the Sales Director, and one of the position's direct reports. There is a template of questions they use to evaluate candidates, and each interviewer was assigned questions to ask. Again, very conversational and friendly and there were no surprises. I was told that the next round would be interviews in Battle Creek, as the home office would need to sign off on the hire.
I got word 1 week later that I was invited to Battle Creek. The hiring manager generously offered to prep me for an hour (on a Saturday!) to make sure I was prepared. I was told that if I did well that the next step would be to check references and proceed to an offer if all was good. The BC interviews were with the NA Head of Marketing, a Sr. Director of HR, and the position's R&D and PS counterparts. Again, very friendly and conversational, and largely a repeat of the questions asked at Kashi (same template).
Here's where everything gets strange--I got an email from the hiring manager 5 days after the interview asking for my references and a 2-year salary history. He also asked me to have a call with their "new" HR person (who I learned had been working for Kashi for a few months, including the time of the in-person interviews in San Diego). I did the HR call (same questions as other interviews, but not nearly as friendly). and was contacted by a 3rd-party asking for references (requested to be a previous manager, co-worker, and direct report at my current employer).
My references were checked and I had the HR call, and 2 days later I got a note from the hiring manager asking how many days of vacation and paid holidays I was currently getting. He told me they would be back in touch shortly.
One week later, I received a message from the 3rd-party recruiting service that everything in the interview process had gone well. Now they want me to talk to 2 of the position's direct reports, as they want their input since this is an external hire. Those conversations went well (they were really just questions about my management style, why I want to work for Kashi, how I deal with direct reports, etc.) and I was told there are no concerns or issues. A week later I get a note from the hiring manager that they 'haven't forgotten me, but there are internal debates and discussions going on. Nothing more you can do, just need the team to "own" this decision as well as me".
After a week, I got a note from the hiring manager asking me to set up a call with him. I was shocked to learn that they were terminating my candidacy as "they had decided to pursue candidates with broader leadership experience and results". While I appreciate that the hiring manager wanted to tell me personally rather than getting a "robo-rejection", there was no logical rationale to explain how they went from asking questions about things like vacation and paid holiday (which they asked about after checking my references) to "we want candidates with broader experience".
My advice--be careful about how much you invest into this process and how much risk you're willing to take with exposing your search at your current employer. Their process is slow, yet can turn on a dime in very unexpected ways.