Applied online for position listed as "Really Smart Person". Several emails back and forth, and we were finally able to set up a phone interview. While I had stated a preference for the interview to be between 8:00 - 10:00 AM, the HR person was not available before 10:30 AM.
Following the phone screen, I was emailed an in-depth questionnaire and asked to have it returned in 48 hours. This led to a panel interview, again scheduled for 10:30. Why these folks cannot be available before 10:30 is beyond me.
During the panel interview, one of the panelists said he would have been OK with me taking a week to complete the questionnaire so he could get the level of detail he was seeking. He also grilled me to name a document he was describing, and my answers were all around what he was looking for, which turned out to be the requirements document. For each question I answered, they would probe and dig until they found a way to seemingly discredit my original answer. One of the guys had previous experience as a technical recruiter, so he asked a lot of the usual HR type questions.
A couple of other things struck me as odd. The instructions for the panel interview said that Business Professional dress was recommended, so I showed up in a suit. The HR director was dressed business casual and the interviewers were dressed in jeans and polo shirts ??? Also, my interview was on a Tuesday and not the 15th or 31st, yet it was the last day on the job for the HR gal that I had been dealing with. Struck me as odd that she would leave mid-week.
By the end of the interview, I think it was obvious that I would not be receiving an offer. Honestly, I think it is for the best as we did not seem to mesh on a personal level.