The interview process for this Manager position was disrespectful of both the candidate’s time and the time of their professional references. After a first‑round interview with two managers, I was asked to provide five professional references through Checkster before even meeting with C‑suite leadership. I advanced to a second‑round interview with a C‑level executive and ensured that all five of my references, including a Partner and a Director, completed their lengthy surveys. Despite this high‑level engagement, I was later informed that I would not be moving forward to the final interview, and the company reposted the exact same Manager position on LinkedIn. When I reached out to the recruiter to express concern about the timing of these reference checks, they responded that their process is intentionally thorough and that they conduct reference checks in tandem with interviews for this particular role to inform their decision‑making. Essentially, they admitted to using my professional network as a preliminary vetting tool rather than as a final confirmation.