Recruiter contacted me about a specific role, then after the initial phone screen followed up and said I was actually being considered for multiple roles. I explicitly discouraged exploring the other roles, and was told my follow-up interview would be with a hiring manager for the role I was most interested in. Nevertheless, my next interview paired me with someone hiring for a position that was not relevant to my experience.

1st round - standard phone interview with recruiter. Not very in depth. 2nd round - phone interview with a team member. Got more detail as to how the position would flow within the team and it’s different duties. 3rd round - in person with 3 team members. There were some contradictions between team members as to the functions of the position but that can be standard. Everyone was pleasant to talk to. Where it went south was the recruiter was not very responsive with updates. Finally got an update that the salary of the position had been slashed significantly and capped at a very low rate for what the requirements and industry average would be. I withdrew my candidacy because of this. All in all, it makes Hearst look not so good overall. Interviewing candidates let alone getting far into the process without confirmation on a budget for a position makes a company of Hearst’s name and size look like a place where employees get lost and forgotten about.