I just wrapped up a grueling six-week interview process with a mid-sized tech firm for a role that I was really excited about. I went through five rounds of interviews, starting with a recruiter screen, then a hiring manager interview, followed by a ninety-minute case study presentation to four team leads, and finally a peer chat. Everyone I spoke to told me I was the frontrunner for the position, which made me feel confident going into the final step. Last Friday, the recruiter called me and said the last hurdle was a quick fifteen-minute chat with the VP of Operations. She assured me it was just a cultural formality and that an offer would come right after. However, when the VP joined the Zoom call, he was six minutes late, sitting in the front seat of his car wearing sunglasses, and didn’t even apologize for his tardiness. He spent most of the time looking down at his phone while giving me generic responses like "uh-huh." The questions he asked were random, including one about my college GPA from eight years ago. He cut the call short at twelve minutes and hung up abruptly. The next day, I received a rejection email from the recruiter, stating that leadership decided to move in a different direction due to "lack of strategic alignment." I can't help but feel frustrated; I should have walked away when they asked for a fifth round of interviews. It’s disheartening to think that after all that effort, one person could veto everything in just a few minutes from his car. This experience has left me questioning why companies put candidates through such extensive processes only to have someone make a snap decision without any real consideration.