The first interview was held over the phone with HR out of Atlanta; the interviewer was very pleasant and had assured me that my experience was right in line with what they were looking for. She forwarded my resume to the hiring manager in Chicago and I was called up for an in-person interview within 72 hours. This is where things went sour. I met with two people separately. The first was very friendly, enthusiastic, and interested in my experience. I was feeling confident. The 2nd person I met with was the actual hiring manager. He started with the very basic question "tell me about yourself", and I wasn't 1 minute into my response when he stopped me. Told me to not hold my breath for the position and that I should be very aware that there were several internal applicants for this position, as well as quite a few external applicants (like myself) that had twice the years of career experience that I did. I had to literally force myself to not have my jaw hit the floor. Excuse me, it's not like I invited myself into the office. After all, isn't the hiring manager the person who gives the go-ahead for me to come in? I assured him that even with my level of experience vs. others, I would be an asset to the team and gave concrete examples. He kept telling me (verbatim) to not hold my breath. This was quite possibly the rudest anyone has ever been to me on an interview, not to mention unprofessional. In the end, can't say that I was too sad to not be given an offer; I would not have wanted to work closely with such a rude person anyways.