Screening interview with HR that at first seemed like it was leading to taking the next steps in the interview process. HR was terrible at responding to follow up e-mails. To make matters worse, I spoke with a manager of a different department a few weeks after at a conference who indicated that much of the interview process is simply a stocking horse process and that most of the positions already have someone slotted that was picked by hiring manager. I felt this was a waste of my time for this type of position. I would have a hard time ever thinking about applying and wasting my time. A follow up e-mail simply responding to my correspondence questions instead of the canned response would have been helpful.