The interview process was terribly long and misleading.

I first had a phone screening with a recruiter who put me back and forth into a number of similar roles. She drew this process out over many weeks.

Next, I did a take-home assignment. It was not terribly difficult but it was a canned test from a well-known website tutorial.

About a week or so after that, they brought me in for an in-person interview with the team lead and an HR person. I had an excellent interview with the lead; we went overtime as we had a lot to discuss, and the conversation flowed naturally.

A few weeks later, they brought me in for a full-day interview with several pair programming sessions and a problem-solving session. Two of the people who interviewed me were so junior that they would have been reporting to me in previous jobs. They barely knew how to interview. I got excellent feedback from them on the day of, and thought the day went very well.

At the end of the day, I had a closing chat with someone from HR who went over all the company benefits and perks, and we discussed salary expectations. It was a long and grueling day and not enjoyable at all.

A few days later, they called and said they would not be making an offer. There were no other candidates, and the job is still open several months later.

I find it hard to believe that they would put a candidate through all this and not make an offer. It is clear that the team lead had given me a green light, and I'm not sure how they decided against me. The feedback provided was not consistent with how the actual day transpired.

They literally wasted months of my time, energy, and effort. I studied the company a lot in between all my interviews and devoted many, many hours of time to this opportunity.

The chat with HR about salary, etc., really is something that could have waited until after making a candidate an offer. It was so misleading and a very terrible experience overall.

How would you implement this?

(A few different things)