Got rejection after 5 rounds of interviews. - Recently, I have been part of mass lay off happening in IT industry, so I am applying for jobs everywhere. One of the IT companies reached out to me for a job role they had. They said they liked my profile and qualifications and everything and I am a good fit for their role. So they started interviewing me, I am usually used to giving 2 rounds of interviews but this one went till 5.

1st one was with HR and went on for like an hour.
2nd one with the Team went for 1+ hour.
3rd with the hiring Team went for 1 hr and 30 mins.
4th they asked me to Demonstrate and review something for them.
5th meeting with management again lasted for more than an hour.

Even after all that they came back saying you were perfect but we are going with an internal application 😞. Now I firmly believe internal applications should be considered first but then why bother wasting the time of someone else. If you had an internal one you could have not tested someone from outside 5 times. Don't they realise, preparing for interviews takes a lot of time (at least for me)? This seems like a cruel joke with me while I am desperately looking for work outside. I remember in my last meeting they were even discussing what time I can start work and what will be your first few days look like. Also, you don't expect a rejection after climbing 5 rounds and just to put more perspective this is not a senior-level position by any means.

It is my humble request to all HRs or recruitment companies, please don't waste anyone important time like this and before you apply any strategies put yourselves in the candidates position, for you, this might just be another role you are hiring for but for him/her, it's the opportunity they desperately need to feed their family.