A talent acquisition manager reached out quickly and scheduled a phone screening where we briefly ran through my experience & the role. It was very pleasant, standard and exploratory. Immediately after, she scheduled a second phone interview with the hiring manager. I was impressed with the quickness and professionalism.
Things took a turn when I spoke to the hiring manager. He came across as short, unengaged, and sarcastic. I ran through my experience again, he asked me some question about other sites' SEO, asked me to give some examples of SEO campaigns I've been proud of, then told me he had something else to run to but wanted to give me a few minutes (3) to ask questions. I asked a question about the culture—specifically how much he thought it matches their progressive policies. I mentioned unlimited PTO as a common example of a progressive policy that is notorious for looking nice and shiny but if the culture doesn't encourage it, people tend to take less PTO than they otherwise would because they're unsure of what's appropriate. This clearly struck a nerve because he snapped back at me that people do take PTO there obviously (not the question) and then, with clear frustration in his voice, told me that he had to go to another call and hurried me off the phone. I would've liked the opportunity to clarify, but then again, maybe not if this was the attitude of the person I would potentially work under.
Throughout the process, both interviewers mentioned they've been searching for someone for a long time. At what point do you start to question whether the problem is the candidates or the interviewer?