I applied for this position through LinkedIn. About a week later, I received an email asking me to schedule a phone screen interview with someone from HR, which would be conducted via Zoom. When I showed up for the interview, the HR person had their camera off while mine was on. In my opinion, this was a bit strange, as I had never experienced a phone screen like that before. However, the overall content of the interview was good. The HR person asked the standard behavioral questions, such as what are your motivations, why us, what are you looking for in a role, salary expectations, etc.
Two days after the interview, I received an email indicating that I'm moving on to the next stage, i.e, an upcoming coding challenge to complete. The coding challenge was timed! I was given 6 hours to solve 5 questions, all focused on problem-solving and DSA) styled questions. I correctly and accurately solved all 5 questions in about 2 hours and scored 100%, which was displayed at the end.
However, a day later, I received a rejection email stating that they were moving forward with candidates "whose assessment was completed and is aligned with our hiring team’s criteria." This was quite disappointing because my assessment was completed, and it indicated that I scored 100%. What was the actually basis of me not moving to the 3rd step.