Extremely lengthy process, just about 2 months from start to finish. First stage was a screening call, second stage was a 60 minute technical interview, third stage was a culture and fit interview. After this was supposed to be the final in person but they randomly had me meet the senior management accountant for an informal call. After this they had me come in for an in person interview which was scheduled for 90 mins. First was a case study which I hadn’t really been told anything about but it was basic accounting stuff, then they had me explain my answers which was also fine, then I met the CFO and he was really nice. Everyone was friendly and warm but I was in the office for 2 hours and 20 minutes, well over the 90 minute scheduled time. The next day they emailed me saying they were impressed with my technical skills and the CFO enjoyed meeting me. They said they’d have a final decision for me the following Wednesday. The following Tuesday evening they emailed me saying the feedback has been very positive across all stages and they want 6 potential references, 3 from each workplace I had worked from so I reached out to my previous managers and got this process started. It was another week went by and I was told that they were interviewing another candidate that day, a full week after they were meant to give me a final update. In this they said they’d have a meeting at lunch and they would shortly let me know the final update after. At around 4;55 they asked to call and rejected me, said technical foundation was really good, culture and fit was really good, I was proactive but the other candidate had more experience. Process was long, messy and there was a lack of communication around managing expectations. They built up my expectations a lot by reiterating how good my feedback was only to reject me.