Interview with Talent Acquisition and 2 Line Managers (Director and then MD). Telephone, Video and then F2F in London. More probing personal questions from the MD, more practicing selling the business function from the TA and Line Manager - all 3 had no idea what kind of person/skills & experience they were looking for, but made it seem like they did consequently wasting all of our time. Avoided 2 calls seeking an update on the process after promising to update - they then contacted the recruiter instead.
Received feedback on 'relaxed' energy after 2nd Stage - silly feedback given the context (discussing personal topics, getting to know one another - did they prefer to have someone come in and be stuck up and/or nervous? Strange strange...). A business that has limited clue of what they're doing especially in particular functions such as this one so they seek out reasons not to hire as opposed to just 'relaxing'.
Terrible waste of time especially after taking a reference which was supposed to be 'the final stage'. It was a glowing reference (thankfully) after which they made an excuse to not hire (missing team management - for a role where this was not required until a later date, and a small team at that; something I had already done and successfully so) as opposed to giving actual useful and honest feedback - during the 3rd Stage with the Line Manager, he was not even aware that I had already spoken to his boss as part of the process! How embarrassing....
Please do not waste your time - if you decide to move forward with this indecisive business, get written confirmation of the EXACT role they are hiring for and seek as much proof as possible that it is the right time for them to hire you with the necessary budgets in place. However, ideally, just don't waste your time. Horrid.