I applied for the Senior Product Analyst role at Headway. Initially, everything seemed positive, and the interview process itself was smooth. I had a few rounds with different members of the team, and I was moved to the reference check stage after a detailed discussion about the role and compensation. However, things quickly went downhill. I specifically asked them not to contact my references unless they were ready to make an offer contingent on positive feedback. Despite being crystal clear about this, they went ahead and reached out to my references anyway—only to inform me afterward that the hiring manager was out of office and no decision could be made until later. This disregard for my request was extremely unprofessional and felt like a complete waste of my references' time. To make matters worse, I received no clear timeline for the decision, even after multiple follow-ups. Ultimately, I accepted a better offer elsewhere, but this experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I've never encountered a situation where references were contacted prematurely with no intention of making an immediate offer.