I was approached by a recruiter. After two calls the recruiter and me figured I could be a match on the profile they are looking for, so he forwarded my portfolio to HR. The phone interview with HR went very positive, again it was mentioned that my qualifications do match the profile they have been looking - for for a while - pretty good. So the next step was the phone interview with the hiring manager. And this is where it all went south...
Initial question of the interviewer was why I applied for the position - well, I didn't, I was approached by a recruiter on behalf of HERE. Instead of understanding this difference the interviewer responded with sarcasm, if I was forced to do this interview with him, since I didn't apply for the job.
Next we both found out that they are not looking for a person matching my profile as an experienced event manager (+10 years in the industry) but more of an experienced event manager with profound knowledge in marketing / event marketing. And the main focus is indeed marketing, not event production nor event operations.
Unfortunately this was not what I was told during any of the prior interviews, so I assume that this was not communicated properly to HR or the recruiter, as the recruiter was pretty surprised as well.
I am fully ok with their decision to not proceed with me for this position, since I clearly do not match the qualifications they are looking for.
However I would ask the employer to be clear on what they are looking for. Bottom line, the four persons involved into this process spent time on something that was not meant to be from the beginning.
Other then that, the interview was very professional.