Be cautious of possible backdoor reference checks! Recruiter reached out and we had a Google Meet. During the VC she asked for the first and last names of leaders I’ve supported along with their job titles. Even my manager’s name and title from a company I haven’t worked at in over 8 years! She shared they won’t reach out to them but it’s required to be considered. I don't know if that's standard for all EBP roles or it was because this particular role was an L6 role and would have been supporting a C-level executive. Call was decent and the recruiter said they would submit my profile and interview notes to the steering committee. If selected to move forward, there would have been a series of panel interviews. If those went well, last step would be with the executive. She shared I’d hear back by the end of the week. It wasn’t until 3 weeks later that the recruiter emailed the boiler plate response saying they were impressed with my background but will not be moving forward. As usual, there was no concrete reason as to why other than it being a highly competitive role. Can only wonder if there were some backdoor reference checks happening. I’ve interviewed probably more than 100 times over the past 10 years, this is the first time I was asked for that kind of info on the first call.