After initial phone interview with the recruiter I had an interview with a hiring manager. We hit it off and I thought that they asked fair questions and I responded to the best of my ability. Interviewer asked if I knew the "STAR" method for answering questions (situation, task, action, result) which I didn't at the time, and asked for my responses to be in that format, which I then did to the best of my ability.
About 20 minutes after that call, the same recruiter called me and said that the hiring manager wanted to meet again so I had a chance to prepare my answers in the STAR format, in addition to wanting a better internet connection because mine was apparently spotty, which the manager never mentioned. Big red flag.
After the second hiring manager interview that I really prepared for, I heard back from them saying that I wasn't considered any longer. Reasons were: "needs more practice with the STAR method", even though my answers were perfectly organized and the manager had even said that it was better AND mentioned that I was an "ideal candidate". The biggest red flag was that that email was addressed to a different person, so I wasn't sure if it was intended for me so I had to reach back out when I learned that it was for me, but just addressed to someone completely different.
After reflecting on this process and reading all of the reviews here, I am so happy it didn't work out. Long hours and too many red flags in the hiring process definitely drew me away.
