The job had been posted for a very long time, and clearly they hadn't been able to find any suitable candidates. I sent in my resume immediately after finding the ad, that had been online for quite some time. They were very eager to meet me, only hours after they got my application. I was called in at the soonest possible date, and met all the top management. We got along exceedingly well, and the meeting lasted well over 2 Hours. We ended up even making pleasant conversation, jokes... It was obvious that I came along well and that I would be a perfect addition to the team. I was bringing along a huge network of potential clients, excellent referral network and professional credibility. I had plenty of outside the box ideas, synergy ideas, guerilla marketing, and was active in all the right circles. We all shook hands and agreed that they would send me their offer within a week. Nearly a month later, still nothing. It got incredibly difficult to reach them. Eventually I 'caught' the HR rep who told me 'how sorry they were but at the last minute someone internal finally woke up and sent in their application, making it easier and faster to hire them, because there would be no training period, but i was the most qualified candidate'. I was very disappointed that they had given me such high hopes and expectations and didn't even bother to call me back to give me their answer, as based on the phone call, it sounded a lot like the decision had been made a long time ago, and they decided to go with the easiest, most convenient, cheapest option, rather than hire the actual best candidate. Furthermore, the internal applicant clearly wasn't anywhere near as motivated for the post as I was, since he/she had a couple of months of head-start time to send in their application but only did after better external candidates were called in. I deplore such a short-term visioned decision, as clearly this will benefit neither me nor the company. I see it as a lose-lose on the mid-long term, all to save a few pennies on training. Shame.
