I initially had an internal referral, which landed me an interview within 24 hours. I received an email from the Lead Recruiter for the role, who set up an interview directly via video with the hiring manager. Email from Recruiter Call w/ Recruiter 30 Minute Video Call w/ Hiring Manager When I got the confirmation of the interview, he reached out saying he would love to chat with me before the video call, so he could answer any questions I had about the role. I love this. Very personal, but yet professional. On the call with the Lead Recruiter, he let me ask any questions I wanted about NBCUniversal, the role, and the team. It really gave me a bit more insight and set me up for better questions for the hiring manager. The only negative part was my interview with the hiring manager. The hiring manager was late, but apologized. She clearly had her Slack open and it was pinging about every 2 seconds (she probably should have silenced it or put it away), it was really unprofessional. She also apologized and said she didn't prepare for the interview and didn't look at my resume...so I kind of jumped in and gave my background. The entire interview she was distracted, and would be responding to Slack and then go "umm, I'm sorry, what did you say?" THIS is where I would encourage you to take the lead, show them who you are, and make them listen. It was the best thing I could have done. At the end, she told me I was a strong candidate and was in alignment with the skills needed for the role. She said she would reach out to the recruiter and someone would get back to me within a few days. This was on a Friday. On Wednesday of the following week, I had not heard back from anyone. So I sent a follow up email. A couple days later, the hiring manager said the would be meeting with the hiring manager the following week and would get back to me immediately after. 2 more weeks went by, and I followed up again with NO response. Very frustrating. Eventually after 3 weeks, I got an email from the recruiter saying "you were the strongest candidate we interviewed, but the team decided to promote internally last minute. That person accepted the offer. BUT we would love to stay in touch about future roles and keep the conversations going." Here is my takeaway.....NAIL DOWN WITH THE RECRUITER A TIMELINE FOR COMMUNICATION. If they don't respond by that timeline (give or take a few days) they probably are moving on.