1. Quick phone call with recruiter
2. 1-hr long Zoom call with hiring manager
3. 4 x 45min interview loop via Zoom with 4 different people, including the hiring manager again
The first two steps were fine, everything went smoothly and the interviews were scheduled within a week or two.
The last step however is where things went awry.
First, it took 10 calendar days for them to schedule the interview loop. By that time, all momentum had dissipated for me as I'd also been interviewing with other companies.
Before the loop was even set up, my contact in the recruitment team called me for about 30 mins to prep me for the final interview loop. They went over some information and when I asked if they were also going to email this information to me, they seemed a bit irritated, as if I was not taking this seriously.
I'd just like to take a quick aside here to note that I've done multiple interview loops like this; they're becoming the standard these days in the Tech world. There is nothing too special about them from one organization to another. Just email me where I can find the company values and I can figure out the rest, thanks.
As advised, I prepared my STAR answers according to the exhaustive list of company values that were provided to me. I had one story for each particular value (just under 20 total).
Everyone I met during the loop was very friendly and nice, however they kept repeating the same questions as previous interviewers in the loop. By the end of the ~4 hours, I'd shared the same stories multiple times but had not had an opportunity to share most of the stories I'd prepared. This left me with the feeling that I was set up to fail, and I already knew I wouldn't be receiving an offer.
Less than two days later I received a phone call, telling me that the team had "decided to pass" on me. Now, I've been rejected from my fair share of jobs. I think most people have. But I have never been rejected so dismissively as in this instance.