Three weeks ago i went to an interview for a new job in a branch that i have limited experience in. The first interview seemed fairly regular even though it took more than an hour. The interview was conducted by an hr rep and my future boss. After the interview they told me they were impressed by my cv and asked me to come and visit the workplace for a day (this is a common practice in social jobs where i live, they want to see how intetested you seem and if you can fullfill simple tasks).
The workday was spent with the small team that i would be working with (my future boss wasn't there). I went there, took notes the entire day and asked a lot of questions. After the workday was over me and the team went over the events of the day. They gave me very positive feedback and told me they could see me working there. They also told me that the decision isn't up to them but they will definitely recommend me (i was in the cc of the recommendation e-mail which was very positive).
Since i had other application processes going on i asked them how likely it is that i will get the job and how many other people they are interviewing. They told me i am the only one being interviewed right now. Based on that information i turned down the other jobs because this was the one i prefered (higher salary, more interesting tasks)
After all of that i was invited to yet another interview with my boss and my boss's boss. A day before the second interview they asked me to give them contact information of 2 former employers or coworkers (another more or less common practice in my country). The second interview was another hour and consisted of quite a few personal questions which didn't seem appropriate. I still awnsered them because i thought i was already kinda in to deep. After the interview they told me they have a very good impression of me and the only thing missing is contacting the people i used to work with.
A day later they called me and told me they can't hire me because they are “financially in a bad place” and “need someone who can jump in from day one” and “you seem like someone that wants to do things right and acts by the book, we need someone who can make mistakes”.
Fuck this shit.