I first was contacted by a corporate recruiter, then had a 75 minute phone interview with three managers, and then an almost two hour in person interview in their conference room by the same three individuals followed by a lab then plant tour. The interview was conversational and covered my background and their expectations. It "seemed" to go well but I was not hired for the following reasons given to the recruiter the next day: I got a call from my recruiter the next day telling me thaI would not get the job. The #1 reason was that I brought my cell phone with me into the conference room where I was being interviewed. They did have a sign in their lobby about cell phones but it seemed ok just to bring it in my briefcase into the conference room because I tole the "HR" woman that I would need it to demonstrate a particular Excel form that would be important during my presentation of skills and experience, but I was so wrong about this. I used my cell phone to show them a spreadsheet to calculate water treatment calculations. I pulled out my phone from my briefcase partway through the interview to show them this formula then put it back into my briefcase after I was done. They asked me what was my worst subject in college; I told them it was Physical Chemistry. This was in 1984 ( that was 34 years ago). They told my recruiter that since I didn't like Physical Chemistry (a two semester course 34 years ago) that also was a problem and why I wasn't qualified for the position. And finally, since there were a couple of instruments in their lab that I wasn't familiar with was the third reason for not hiring me. Now, mind you, I have been involved with chemistry for 30+ years which didn't seem to make a bit of difference to anyone of them. I think they had a hidden agenda but am not certain about this. They told me that they were looking for someone who could "think-outside-of-the-box" but the problem with that was that these three individuals really didn't define what this was and I sincerely believe that they also didn't know what they meant by "thinking-outside-of-the box".