This was a six month contract role and I did the first round with the hiring manager and moved on to the second round with three other members of the HR team. I was told that this would be my last round as they were interviewing another candidate. A week later, I was asked to do another 3 hour interview. I was confused by this and reached out to get some clarity around the process. That evening I was told that this is the first time they are hiring for this role in the NY office so the process wasn’t finalized and that this will be the final round. For some reason, the next day the recruiter tells me that they have changed their minds and don’t think I’m a good ‘cultural fit’ based on my email asking about clarity around the process. I wasn’t even allowed to go through the next round of interviews because I asked a question that clearly bruised someone’s ego. The company should really evaluate their recruiting process, when claiming a minority candidate isn’t a good cultural fit in an organization whose leaders are predominantly white male. Not only that, it’s outdated to hire based on cultural fit because it results in bias. Which is effectively what I experienced. Be careful, this company touts their belief in their culture, but are so rigid and outdated in terms of their practice. Just look at the diversity of their leadership team!