I had a phone screen with the HR recruiter, another with the hiring manager, and then an in-person interview with four members of the team (including the hiring manager). The team seemed nice enough, but the hiring manager was immediately off-putting. When a member of the team mentioned that she heard the hiring manager coming down the hallway, I stood up in preparation of greeting her and shaking her hand. But before she even entered the conference room, before I could say hello and shake her hand, before I could even see her face, she yelled from the hallway, "I just have one question for you! Are you a real estate agent?!"
Apparently she had just googled my name in her last-minute preparation for the interview, saw that I once had a real estate license, and panicked. She could have asked me any question she wanted, but her approach was so awkward and unprofessional. It was most certainly the oddest start to an interview I have ever experienced.
I did briefly explain that I once had a real estate license, but didn't do much with it, and then proceeded to shake her hand and say hello. Hindsight being what it is, she did seem annoyed and disinterested throughout the interview, and then made a strange comment when she walked me to the door. She said, "If we hire you, we'll clearly need to look more into your background. We can't do it now, since you don't work here, but we'll definitely have to look into you." I blew it off as a bad attempt at a joke, thanked her for her time, and left.
Heaven forbid this manager ever learn that a member of her team plays in a band on the weekends, or sells their homemade jewelry or crafts on etsy, or anything else they might do on their own time that is none of her business. For a company that claims they support a work / life balance, she sure got angry at my choice of hobbies.
I was told that I would hear something back from the company either way, but it took almost two weeks and a few phone calls to HR to hear anything back. In the message from HR, all she said was "the hiring manager found a better candidate". Better how? Better dressed? Better looking? Never had a real estate license? But I did send a message to the hiring manager, asking her for feedback. She told me that the "team" (meaning her) didn't think I could communicate with management or properly address a security incident, which earned her a giant eye roll from me. It just offered further proof that she didn't hear a word I said in my interview about my education and past successes in those very areas.
I used Glassdoor to prepare for my interview and discovered that, while the company as a whole gets decent reviews, most or all feedback from IT personnel was negative. It didn't deter me from applying or interviewing for the role, but there is clearly an issue with the IT organization.
The whole experience left me with a very bad impression of BECU.