US Postal Service Honors Attorney interview questions

The USPS requires you to complete a very extensive online application. This was one of those applications that required you to list every position you've held within the last seven years, including a listing of any periods of unemployment by specific months (including time as a student), and provide every address where you've lived for a similar amount of time. The application can take a couple of hours to complete if you've had significant work experience and have moved around. Months later, I was contacted for a phone interview by a couple of attorneys in the relevant field office. The phone interview was relatively straightforward and the interviewers seemed more concerned about markers of prestige (journal service, law school activities, etc...) than actual legal knowledge and experience relative for the position (this opening was for specialization in a specific area of law). The interviewers indicated that they would let me know if I was still under consideration the following week. After receiving no word two weeks later, I sent a polite e-mail requesting the status of my application and was told they still needed authorization to hire but would follow up with me as soon as they had made a decision. I heard nothing from them until 7 months later - when I received a form e-mail rejection on Christmas Eve.