Interview was standard - met with two people from the team that I’d be joining at the company. We reviewed my background and expertise and discussed the day to day tasks as well as immediate challenges (i.e. team structure, processes, etc.) that I may face if I joined.

Interview process was standard until I got to 3rd interview. PLEASE ALSO NOTE: This was MINDSHARE & NEO. First, standard phone screening. All good and went well. Second, meeting with 2 direct reports (directors). Again, all good and went well. Third, this is where it got weird. I was booked in a 1 hour interview, as per usual. Met with another director who just blasted through the exact same questions that I was asked in the 2nd interview. This was fine but ODD. This told me that the director I was currently speaking with had not connected with the other 2 directors. After the director was finished with their questions they said "oh look! it's been 30 mins, I have to go to another meeting". I had said that I had questions and that I was booked for 1 hour. They said "oh, ok" I got 2 questions out with very short one-worded answers and then the Director claimed that they absolutely had to go now. This told me that the person I was currently speaking with doubled booked themselves and cared only about what they needed out of the interview and not mine. After this, obviously I was a bit skeptical but, I was still interested in the role and just took my 3rd interview as a "they were just very busy" kind of mindset and rolled it off. For the forth round, or as I called it, the company had asked for references. This was great news as I thought the previous interview was a total bomb. I had provided them with a total of 3 colleagues that I have previously worked with or for. Two of these people told me they had received the request and that they had already sent their reference back. The third one contacted me and wanted to advise me that they were quite appalled and questioned their request. I had told this person that it was fine to deny and reject the reference request. After this, the hiring coordinator I had been working with contacted me told me about this as well. I informed them that I had already knew and I would gladly provide another reference. The hiring coordinator had requested that I provide a reference from the last 2 working years. I had reiterated to them that I had been in my current role for the last 4 working years and that I would have to ask a current colleague therefore exposing my job search to my current employer. They had then told me that they were very interested in me and were very excited to move to an employment offer. This was great news to me! I then provided a 4th reference (current colleague) and awaited next steps. A few days after all of this, one of the hiring managers contacted and had said they were going vacation for 2 weeks and they would be in contact when they returned. They had also reiterated that all references we're extremely glowing in my favor and they were exited to move to a final offer. 3 weeks later they emailed to tell me that were NOT moving forward with me and that they had filled the position internally. This was THE WORST interview process I've ever experienced in my career. I would have been fine with everything except for when I had to expose my current job search even AFTER they had reassured me. This was especially bad because they had requested a more recent professional reference. BEWARE MINDSHARE & NEO!