I met with a friendly Creative Executive for an interview where we had a great casual conversation. I followed up and he connected me to HR, which he said was the next step in the recruitment process. A few days later I met with a Valence HR representative (their parent company) and had a much more formal conversation. She declined to give me her email, and I was told I could only communicate through her assistant (I was told even my "thank you" note to her should be emailed to her assistant and would be passed on). I found this incredibly off-putting. I heard nothing after sending my thank you, so I followed up about three weeks after. Her assistant responded quickly and said I wouldn't be proceeding in the recruitment process because the team needed more "balance."