I applied for two marketing positions at Paessler and received a single rejection email for both, stating that my "qualifications and experience are not suited to any position we are looking to fill at the moment." I asked for specific feedback. None came. What came instead was a surprise interview invitation for one of the roles I had just been rejected for. The interview with the hiring manager went well, and I was subsequently invited to the final stage - a panel interview with a presentation. I invested significant time preparing and delivering that presentation. The rejection that followed was, once again, a copy-paste template: "your profile unfortunately doesn't fully match our expectations and your previous experience doesn't sufficiently align with our requirements." Let that sink in: according to their first email, my qualifications were "not suited to any position" at Paessler. Yet I was good enough to be invited back, pass the hiring manager stage, and present to a panel. To then be told my profile and experience don't align - after reaching the very final stage - says everything about the quality of their recruitment process. As for the panel itself: the marketing team did not come across as a cohesive unit. Each member seemed to operate independently, and I got the impression I was presenting to people from different organisations rather than a single team with a shared direction. In my professional opinion, the team came across as unprofessional and disconnected. One moment stood out in particular. During the discussion, the team demonstrated a misunderstanding of the B2B marketing funnel - a concept I have worked with daily across 20 years of professional experience as a B2B marketer. The funnel is wide at the top and narrows toward the bottom, where prospects are closest to purchase. The team implied the opposite. For a marketing team, that is a serious concern. The recruitment process lacks transparency, consistency, and respect for candidates' time. If you're considering applying, go in with realistic expectations.