This was a frustrating interview process. While the team was friendly, I went through three interviews over the course of about two months. During that time I was often told I would hear back about the next steps by the following week, and then I would hear nothing for several weeks.
But what bothered me most was the reasoning behind their final decision. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem interviewing for a job and not getting it. But after this long process, I was told they had decided to refocus their search on someone with more of a background in strategic communications and less on writing (I thought this should be obvious given the title they gave the position in the first place).
This confused me given that I do have such a background and even shared a communications plan I had developed in the past with them - which they seemed to barely look at. More frustrating was the fact that in the early interviews I asked them when we were going to get a chance to discuss strategic communications because I had questions and ideas to share with them. They assured me I'd have a chance to bring this all up at a later time. In fact, nearly all the questions they asked me had to do with writing ability, approach to writing/communications, and how I currently promote my communications at my current institution. I felt they boxed me into a corner and then explained that corner as the reason for needing to reconduct their search.