I applied online for a Digital Content Editor position and heard back from a recruiter the following day. We had a phone screen the following week, which went very well: the recruiter, was very easy to talk to -- very conversational and approachable. I then had to complete a short writing assignment, which I did the following week, and I was told I would then be coming into the office to meet with the rest of the team. Another week or so went by and I did not hear anything about scheduling that call, so I followed up, and the recruiter then informed me that I would be having a Google Hangout with two team members in the London office rather than meeting anyone in Boston. That conversation also went well -- it was more formal but still enjoyable: the team members asked me about my experience and I got to ask some ins and outs about the job itself. I was told it would be a fairly creative position, which excited me. The following week, I then had another Google Hangout with one of the same team members plus with VP of Marketing, which also went well, though after I had answered some questions, the VP said that this position was not, in fact, all that creative, which took me aback some since it had been a selling point in the previous call. Still, I felt good coming out of the conversation.
After that, I got a call from the recruiter telling me that they weren't moving forward with my candidacy; since I felt the calls had gone pretty well, I asked if any team members would be willing to speak with me about how I might improve my chances in the future, and to my astonishment, the VP of Marketing had already volunteered to do so. We spoke a few weeks later, and I have to say, even though I was frustrated about the differences between what I'd been told in the two Google calls, I was blown away by how helpful he was -- he gave me tips on how to pitch myself effectively for similar positions within other companies as well as different resources to draw on around the city (forums, community networking events, etc.) to make myself more knowledgeable about the field. He also said that they wound up going with another candidate because, even though I was qualifies, I had seemed like I'd be much happier in a more creative position, and their employees' job satisfaction is really important to them as a company. I'm grateful that he was up-front about it, and I got a huge amount of professional value out of the follow-up call with him. So overall, even though I didn't get this position, the process was very rewarding and positive.