Everyone was friendly during the interview process. I was initially told that I would have five rounds of interviews, and then, at the end, I was told that I would have to go through another round. After six rounds of interviews, I was told that another candidate had been selected. The news hit me like a bolt from the blue, as I felt everything went well until the final round, The final round I could feel that the person wasn't much interested in my background, but all the other interviewers gave me positive feedback.

The recruiter did not know much about the role despite my questions to them. 'What does success look like for someone in this role?' 'I'm not sure--that's a question for the hiring manager.' The recruiter should have been able to tell me what the hiring manager was at least looking for. For example, 'The hiring manager is looking for somebody who has strong analytical skills, with the ability to build things from scratch and be able to navigate ambiguity.' The recruiter also mentioned many things that were not even listed in the job description, making me very confused about what the role was actually about. By the time I met with the hiring manager, I had to spend most of the time asking clarifying questions. Regarding my interview with the hiring manager, this was where the process started to go downhill. The hiring manager spent most of the interview talking (I would say roughly 30 minutes) and we went over time, with me having 10 minutes to answer questions. At the end of my interview with the hiring manager, they explicitly said, 'Please reach out to the recruiter to discuss next steps which will be a call with my manager, NAME. I will also be available for any follow-up questions should you have any.' We discussed setting up a follow-up call as I had additional questions to ask, and I also explicitly said, 'I would also love to discuss interview prep for the call with your manager,' to which they enthusiastically responded, 'Absolutely, I loved that you asked the recruiter questions about what to prep for for your interview with me. I should be free this Friday as I will be traveling.' I sent a follow-up email to the recruiter recapping my conversation with the hiring manager and the conversation about next steps with the hiring manager's manager. To ANY candidate, the hiring manager's words were affirmative and indicative of moving on to the next stage of interviews. The recruiter responded saying they would follow up with the hiring manager and would get back to me with next steps. Two days had passed and I hadn't heard from the recruiter, which was odd as I was expecting next steps with the hiring manager's manager. I followed up with the recruiter, who promptly responded with, "At this time, we are continuing to move forward in considering candidates so I don’t have any new updates in regards to next steps. I will be sure to reach out once I have more information.' To say I was confused would be an understatement. I immediately followed up, detailing my conversation with the hiring manager, what the hiring manager explicitly said, and what expectation was set by the hiring manager. I felt incredibly misled by the hiring manager's words, and it made for an extremely poor candidate experience. The recruiter followed up with me two days later stating they would be moving forward with scheduling me for a follow-up interview, not with the hiring manager's manager, but with somebody else on the team. This was yet another thing that confused me, as I was expecting an interview with the hiring manager's manager, not a peer. Fast forward to the interview with the peer. The interview did not feel like an interview in any way, in that I was not asked behavioral questions or anything in-depth about my skillset or experience. I felt like the interview was set-up to appease me due to the mishap, and I fully expected to be rejected from the role after the interview. It 100% felt like the team already had an internal candidate they were going to be moving forward with, and that my time was being wasted with the lack of interviewing skills from both the hiring manager and the peer. I was correct in my assessment, as I was rejected from the role later that evening. I would not recommend Oracle. My time was wasted, the candidate experience was extremely poor, the interviewers need to be better trained in interviewing candidates, and the recruiter needs to be better prepared in the actual needs of the role.