The interviews themselves were relatively informal and unstructured, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. They had recently fired the entire Marketing department, which did raise some red flags. Otherwise, the team seemed great, and the company appeared to have a pretty good culture, with heavy involvement from the family members at the helm. However, the process and conversations were somewhat misleading and resulted in several interviews with various team members, followed by silence. After quite a few weeks and multiple follow-ups, I was told I had interviewed well, but that I wasn't receiving an offer because of misaligned compensation expectations. This is obviously a critical factor, which should have been more thoroughly discussed up front to avoid wasting a significant amount of my time and energy. That is the primary reason for my "thumbs down" experience review, as it was an incredibly disappointing way to end what was otherwise a favorable experience. Not because I didn't get the job (which, of course, was disappointing), but because I was ultimately just dismissed despite the considerable effort I invested in the process.
