I had a personal recruiting connection, which is what started the process for me. I thought it was a little odd that no one wanted to phone-screen me first. Anyway, my contact told me the hiring manager(s) thought my resume looked interesting and could make a fit, and I was invited for an in-person. I showed up and was informed that the recruiter I had been talking with was out that day due to an emergency. I was asked who I was interviewing with - those people were contacted by reception, and I was told one of them would be with me shortly. A half-hour late, the hiring manager shows up, visibly in a bit of a frantic, distracted state. This person brings me into a conference room, asks a couple of high-level questions, but I saw that the interview was not fruitful at all. The manager apologized for their distraction. I suggested that we meet another time, and that was agreed upon as a good idea. I showed up for the rescheduled interview. Most of the called-upon panel was not there. A person on the peer level of the role in question interviewed me first. Pleasant, very polite, but obviously unprepared, probably through no fault of their own. They were probably thrown into the room last-minute. They also asked asked an inappropriate question (something not exactly fair-play for job interviews) and said a couple of things that I found to be a little odd. The senior-level hiring manager then showed up. What followed was the oddest interviewing experience I've ever had. This person (in no particular order): spent a good deal of the time with their face in their iPad, essentially acted like this was the first time they had seen my resume, commented on one of my questions and insinuated that it wasn't relevant (remember that for later...), and, it seemed to me, deliberately twisted questions towards convoluted and inaccurate outcomes. The "Most Difficult or Unexpected Question" is a true gem. There are two types of interviews. Those led by skilled interviewers there to assess a candidate for the role and company and those led by people either don't know or don't care to assess candidates in a relevant way. There are two types of outcomes - positive (advancing rounds, getting an offer) and negative (the process ends for you). This didn't go any further - and really, I'm OK with that. No sour grapes here because after this experience, I wouldn't touch the opportunity even if I had been deemed a successful candidate. The lack of preparedness, the somewhat bizarre line of questioning, my disagreement with the outlook on the work, and the rudeness of the lateness, scheduling debacles, and inconsiderate behavior were reasons enough to find a silver lining in the opportunity to keep a distance. My rejection letter even said I was thought to be inexperienced in the very topic that I had asked a question about (which was deemed irrelevant to the position). Large agencies can be great places to work but it all depends on the people you're interacting with. If you get a bad feeling about the team, probably better to move on.

A vp level recruiter reached out to me via LinkedIn for a mid/high level strategy role. I was skeptical but said yes and we scheduled our screening/intro call. They never showed but later sent an apology and asked for more availability. I responded promptly, but they ghosted me after that.