About a month ago, I applied for a job and went through two rounds of video interviews. First with the hiring manager, then with both the hiring manager and the CEO. A few days later, they let me know they’d chosen another candidate. Fair enough.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, the hiring manager reached out again. Apparently their first hire hadn’t worked out, and they asked if I’d be interested in rejoining the process. I had some reservations, but they were enthusiastic and invited me in for a third interview to meet the team, so I decided to give it another shot.

The team interview went really well. But right at the end, they asked me to complete an assignment and mentioned there was another candidate still in the running. I probably should’ve expected that, but given how positive everything had felt, and the fact that I’d already gone through multiple rounds, I assumed I was close to the finish line.

I spent the week completing the assignment and submitted it. This morning, I got the news: they decided not to move forward with me.

Honestly, my Spidey-sense was tingling throughout the process as there were a few red flags. But the opportunity itself seemed strong, so I stuck with it.

Still, it’s hard not to feel led on.

The most disheartening part of the whole process was the rejection email. It was the same copy and paste message that I got the first time. That annoyed me more than not getting the job even after all the work I did on the assignment.

So, rejected twice by the same company.

Has anyone else been through something like this?