I applied for this position a few months ago and wasn't expecting anything to progress. However, they called me and explained that they had been putting the position on hold a few times.
I had a screening call which went great. The recruiter was knowledgeable and overall the experience was positive. The hiring manager was out of the country for an extended period so I had to jump on a call with a peer (I really appreciated the flexibility instead of me waiting for weeks to meet with the HM). The peer interview went pretty well as well. It was more around general skills and not so much around the position. I didn't appreciate it as much since I'd have liked to find out more about the position, however, given the circumstances with the absent HR, that would have been a move forward. And then I didn't hear anything further. It's been a couple of weeks already since I had the interview. I wrote twice to the recruiter to ask them about updates but haven't received anything. I'd have to assume I'm not progressing which is weird given I didn't chat with the HM but with a peer (I guess the peer's opinion had a lot of weight).
Overall the process was excessively long. Meetings with 7 people, followed by a 3rd party assessment at the end. The expectations were set for 3-4 weeks but to me it sounds more like double that time.
