I applied based on a recommendation from a friend. One day later was sent an email for a Phone Screen with Recruiter.
Phone screen was about an hour, talked about my current role, my leadership, how many folks I am leading and I was able to ask questions. The recruiter talked in detail about how Recruiting was going through a lot of changes. The phone screen also had some culture fit questions. I was happy to hear her talk about the culture, which was it doesn't matter where you are if you are performing and getting your work done. Remote options, etc. The individual who did the screen was great, she was a pro and knew her stuff.
A few days later I was notified by email of wanting to bring me on site for interview with leadership team. Process to book flight, hotel, car, etc went well and was handled great.
On site interview at Georgia Pacific in downtown Atlanta, GA. Great facilities, modern-open concepts, and seemingly a good environment to work in.
Met with 4 people over a 2 hour window. First was the person who I would have reported into and a counterpart of his. Then second hour was Director(by video) and another leader to some degree in the room.
Right off the bat the person I would have reported to came in and told me he needed to leave 15min early, so 45min into a 1hr time slot. Wow. I couldn't seriously be in consideration.
My initial thought was, OK, you must have already made a decision but didn't want to cancel my trip.
As a fairly passive candidate i was really put off, putting myself in these situations regularly as a leader, I couldn't understand a situation where I would do that.
Mostly behavioral based questions wrapped into leadership.
2nd hour in which I interviewed with one person in the room and the overall Director over video. The Director was awesome. She was engaged(which over video can be difficult) and on the ball. The other person in the room didn't have much to add in general. The director asked some great questions which got us really talking well. Behavioral based as well. The reservations I had from the first hour were gone based on my interactions with the Director. Seemed like a great leader.
I wrapped up with the person in the room and I asked a number of questions, structure, team, alignment, process flows, next steps. When I asked about timeline, she said they didn't have one and weren't sure on next steps. I though it was odd considering I had applied, phone screen, on site interview all within a 2 week time frame. Which was pretty quick in my opinion.
About a week later, the gentlemen noted above called me and let me know they had decided to move forward with an internal candidate. He alluded to the decision already being made a few days before my interview. Basically, exactly what I thought based on my interactions with the folks during the interview.
Unfortunate, but anytime you can interview its an opportunity to improve your skill. Interviewing is a skill, the more you work on it the better you are.
I agree going with an internal totally makes sense, if you can, especially for a leader role.
Everything I heard on how KOCH views Talent Acquisition, was truly outstanding. They are a huge team, with tons of resources. TA is absolutely a priority to KOCH.