I submitted an application online and was contacted by a recruiter to set up an initial round interview. The recruiter had to reschedule a few times, which is not a big deal, and we were both flexible about it. However, the first round interview turned out not to be with the recruiter at all, but rather with the hiring manager. Having been through a number of interviews with other tech companies for CSM roles, it is more common to have screening calls with a recruiter before moving on to the hiring manager interview. Luckily, I had prepared plenty of notes and questions and was able to pivot for this type of conversation, but this was a bit strange. The hiring manager was not particularly personable or conversational and spent most of the 30 minute interview going through rapid fire questions that felt almost.. accusatory? As in, I felt like I was having to defend my resume and experience despite having come from this role in a similar field. The hiring manager did not leave any time for me to ask questions, except for 3 minutes at the very end of the call. I did my best to narrow down my questions and ask only the most urgent ones, but still felt as though I did not get a strong sense of her authentic answers or her personal experience at the company. She also dodged my question about the compensation range for the position (which is typically disclosed by recruiters in screening calls) and made me feel uncomfortable about asking. Overall, this felt like a very rushed interview and I did not get a clear picture of how the hiring manager liked her work or why the company would be a good fit for me. I would suggest that the company considers utilizing the screening calls with HR when possible to give candidates a better sense of the role and the fit before going into an interview with a hiring manager. It is a better use of everyone's time. Needless to say, I did not pursue next steps with this company and they chose to move forward with other applicants as well.