I went through a multi-stage interview process with this company involving HR screening, a manager round, and an onsite session of ~3 hours with a team lead, director, and technical team. The process also included a basic paper-based SQL test.
Across all rounds, the interactions indicated clear interest in my profile, and the discussions gave a strong impression that I was being seriously considered for the role. In my view, I was overqualified for the position and well-aligned with the requirements.
Based on how the interviews went, I was confident of receiving an offer.
However, after completing all rounds, I was informed they moved forward with another candidate. Within a few days, the same position was reposted again, which strongly suggests there was either no real hiring intent or no concrete decision-making in place during the interview process.
From a candidate perspective, this reflects poor hiring discipline and lack of clarity in the hiring pipeline. Running candidates through multiple senior-level interview rounds, creating the impression of progression, and then rejecting them—only to repost the exact same role shortly after—raises serious concerns about whether the process is actually tied to a genuine hiring requirement.
It results in unnecessary time consumption for candidates and shows a lack of respect for the effort involved in a full interview loop.