The enraging moment when you get through 4 rounds of interviews only to be hit with "there's been a change". After investing hours preparing for each conversation and seeming to connect genuinely with each person I spoke with, I was notified that the role was being downgraded 2 FULL LEVELS and they were going with another candidate. If this had been communicated in week one, fine. But after FOUR rounds? What a shocking and disrespectful waste of time.
To be fair, the recruiter I worked with was kind and communicative, but that ultimately means nothing if the company/department is so dysfunctional that they can't determine their personnel needs. If this experience reflects how the team functions internally, I can only imagine the level of dysfunction employees are dealing with day-to-day. Talk about red flags!