[euvin]

> They were close and had potential, but we also saw some gaps.

I would be really interested to hear more about the specific "gaps".

> After lots of discussion with my management chain, we decided not to extend the offer.

I wonder exactly what was said, given that this candidate was led on for months by this point and I presume the management knew about everything along the way. Also, was someone else hired, or did they just cancel the entire opening?

I understand some emotional pain about passing up a really nice candidate for an objectively unbeatable one (that's competition for you), but I only get the sense that it was a single person in the interview loop (who was then cancelled on): they were apparently hiring for just one extra manager position?

[rcurry]

It was on the thirtieth interview when things went south. While excitedly explaining how they’d just scaled a business to eight million users the candidate casually picked up a shrimp fork and dug into the house salad with it!!

It was right then I realized we’d made a terrible mistake. I feigned gastric distress and headed for the restroom where I immediately called HR.

Months wasted but I feel we dodged a bullet on this one. Now it’s back to the drawing board but I’m sure we will eventually find a qualified junior web developer.

[reactiverobot]

I can't share the specifics of feedback but you're right that's the most interesting part of this decision and where I could learn the most. Ultimately, it's a hard to reverse decision with imperfect information and that's why it can be so emotionally tough.

Thanks for the note!