Went through initial phone screen, an afternoon of onsite interviews (multiple rounds of panel interviews), and then a final interview. I was informed that I was a finalist and that the next step was that UCR needed to do a reference check with my current supervisor. I let them know I was concerned with this step. I wanted to get some clarification to some of my questions first before giving the green light for them to speak to my current supervisor. I sent a detailed email to the recruiter with these questions. I spoke to the recruiter on the phone who said she was going to look into this and get back to me. Week after week passed by when the recruiter said that someone would be in touch. However, no one got back in touch with me. Weeks then passed when I received an email saying I am no longer being considered. The recruiter didn't even have the courtesy to give me a call to explain why the process had ended at this point. I wrote back in response to the email and asked if we could speak on the phone. She just explained that the hiring manager is "re-thinking" the role and is going in a different direction right now and that I'm no longer a candidate. Ultimately, I can't help but have the impression that they were no longer interested because I had posed my detailed questions. What else am I left to think after receiving very positive feedback for the last few months when the process unfolded and then all of a sudden, the process went dark after I posed my questions? It left me with a negative candidate experience at the end of the day. The entire experience was a four month deal. What a waste of such a long time period for this to have ended the way it did. It's even more of a shame that this type of negative experience was yielded for an HR leadership-related position/candidate.