My experience with this company was unusual and ultimately left me with a negative impression of their hiring process. A few days after applying, I received an email from the hiring manager's administrative assistant requesting several pieces of personal information, including my name exactly as it appears on my government-issued ID, my date of birth, the last four digits of my Social Security number, and my driver's license number, so that they could arrange an in-person interview. I was uncomfortable providing that level of personal information to a company before having spoken with anyone from the organization. Additionally, the position was located in California while I was based on the East Coast, a fact that was clearly indicated on my application. I responded by explaining my location and asking about travel logistics before committing to an in-person interview. They then informed me that the interview would instead be conducted via Microsoft Teams and stated that the original request had resulted from a misunderstanding involving the hiring manager. Without first checking my availability, they scheduled a virtual interview for Friday, February 27 at 2:00 PM. I subsequently had to clarify whether that time was Pacific or Eastern Time before confirming. After accepting the invitation, I noticed that my name had been misspelled in the Teams meeting invite. While reviewing the meeting invitation, I also noticed that, in addition to the hiring manager, another individual had been invited to the interview. Curious about his role, I looked him up on LinkedIn and found that he appeared to be a senior undergraduate student studying optical engineering with no apparent affiliation to the company. After spending a considerable amount of time preparing for the interview, I received an email from the administrative assistant shortly before the scheduled meeting stating that the hiring manager "had something come up" and that the interview would need to be canceled and rescheduled. The message indicated that they would contact me the following week to arrange a new time. No one ever reached out to reschedule. I later sent a follow-up email informing them that I had completed my Ph.D. and asking whether they were still interested in conducting the interview, but I never received a response. While I cannot know what happened behind the scenes, the overall process appeared disorganized and lacked the level of communication and professionalism I would expect from a prospective employer.