I'd applied through an employee referral for another position and made it pretty far before being rejected. However, a different recruiter from the one I'd been working with reached out to me about applying for this position, and so I did. Day 1: Recruiter asked me if I would like to discuss the position with her. Day 2: Had a phone screen with the recruiter...typical screen about my background. Call concluded with her setting up a call with the hiring manager. Day 3: Interviewed over the phone with the hiring manager...went over my resume and the hiring manager talked more about the position. No questions, but he concluded by saying he would like to bring me on-site for a final interview. Day 5: The recruiter followed up to let me know the final round had been scheduled. Day 10: Final round on-site...4 rounds, each 45 minutes, with a panel of 2 people. The first and second rounds were with 2 peers each, the third round was with the hiring manager and his peer, and the fourth round was with 2 of the hiring manager's peers. Each round started with me going over my resume and my background, followed by standard behavioral-based questions. There was one slightly-technical question from the hiring manager, but that was it. The behavioral based questions were all the same, across the different rounds. Day 16: The recruiter let me know that there would be an additional step...a discussion with the director (hiring manager's boss) over the phone, and so she scheduled the call. Day 17: I was supposed to have a call with the director, but he never called. The recruiter apologized and rescheduled for "sometime on Friday," (2 days later). I tried reaching out for clarification but she did not respond as she had gone on PTO. Day 19: Still no response and it was supposed to be the day of my call. I reached out to another recruiter I'd previously worked with and she reached out to the director and scheduled a call for that afternoon. The director was very apologetic about having missed the interview 2 days prior and it turns out it was a mix-up between the recruiter and him. The call was straightforward with me describing my background. He had a few behavioral-based questions and that was it. He let me know someone would get back to me most likely by Monday, maybe Tuesday. Day 23: I happened to see the position was reposted on LinkedIn, but re-titled "Continuous Improvement Engineer." Well, I knew what that meant... Day 24: I received the generic "thanks, but no thanks" email with no feedback given. About a month later, I decided to follow up with the director after I saw the position was reposted AGAIN. I felt particularly bold so I gave him a call. He picked up and was honest and straightforward with me. He said he felt I was a good fit but when he discussed moving forward with an offer, the hiring manager expressed his doubts. The director admitted that the hiring manager should've said something sooner before the interview progressed all the way to him as the call with him (the director) was supposed to be "more of a formality than anything else." He confirmed that they were still looking, but that he was impressed with my drive in reaching out to him directly and calling. He said he would discuss reopening my candidacy with his team and that he would get back to me. I have no clue if anything he said was true, but it's been 2 weeks and I've heard nothing. I've received another offer so I'm moving on.