Applied online, then was contacted by a recruiter via email, and we scheduled a phone screen. All was going well on the phone screen until the end when I asked the recruiter what would make me the stand-out candidate for this role. She responded that she didn't think I was a good fit because I had not been in a product marketing role in the past. She said they didn't want somebody who had merely collaborated with the product marketing team. I told her I was looking at the job description which stated that the individual would collaborate with product marketing. Her initial, very condescending response was, "Well, I'm looking at the notes from the hiring manager, not the job description." I was really taken aback by her tone. The recruiter and hiring manager should be aligned with the posting, along with each other, and candidates apply based on job postings, not internal conversations. A few minutes later, her tone became a bit friendlier and she said that maybe she was wrong and would confirm with the hiring manager. Sure enough, later that day, she called me to say she was wrong (but didn't apologize) and that the hiring manager wanted to meet with me. Clearly, there had been a disconnect between the recruiter and the hiring manager. Imagine how many other candidates were not even considered or rejected because of this internal miscommunication? Met with the hiring manager and that call went well. We ran out of time, so she told me to send my follow-up questions to her via email, which I did. I never got a response from her. The next day, I was told by HR that they were pausing the role for now—they had pulled all marketing roles down from LinkedIn. My guess is it had something to do with a new CRO joining the company--they probably wanted to evaluate the marketing org before any new hires were made. They told me to follow up later. About two weeks later, I saw the role posted again on LinkedIn and reached back out to the recruiter letting her know I was still interested. She said she would check with the hiring manager and get back with me. A week and a half later, I received a generic *automated* rejection email. Negative candidate experience. Will never apply to this company again. The irony is that they sell HR solutions and often write articles about creating a positive candidate experience. They definitely don't practice what they preach. If I was ever in the position to do so, I would not purchase their solutions.