The first interview was conducted with the VP, a Director and a Manager who I would be working directly for and with. A verbal offer for a direct hire position was extended to me and I accepted. Then, I was told that this was outside of the process and that I would need to come back for an interview with HR. The HR interview ended up being a panel of people of whom, only 1 person I would have been working directly with. The feedback that I received from the recruiter was "they decided that it is not worth the risk and would like to offer you a contract to hire".