Contacted by 3rd party recruiter working for Subaru. They were looking to replace analyst / R Shiny programmer in their Business Intelligence / Analytics team at Subaru HQ. Incidentally, this person left Subaru to take my current role at another company (I was a short-term consultant for the other company. I didn't want to work there permanently because it was too far from my home). Because our roles and skills are matched, I was contacted to interview with Subaru. I ended up talking to the guy who is leaving and is taking over my role + another technical member who I would be working with. Had a good conversation and was immediately invited for on-site. For on-site, I talked with the same person and another team member. The IT Manager was late to the interview because she had another meeting to attend. As the manager did not attend for the majority of the interview, the interview was more in-depth technical. They asked details about time series modeling, R, R Shiny, RStudio platform etc. All was good and 30 minutes after leaving the interview, I was offered the job. The next business day, the recruiter calls and says Subaru rescinds the offer claiming that an internal hire was made. This is quite abnormal. I understand companies decide to promote from within after searching for an external candidate, but why was the offer made and then rescinded? I am quite confused.