I submitted my application and completed a 20 minute screener with the recruiter. The screener was more in-depth than generic salary and "why are you leaving your company" questions and asked questions around my experience in research and edge solutions. At the screener I was immediately advanced and set up with a time to talk to the hiring manager. I had a 45 min call with the hiring manager and again was told I would be immediately advanced to the next stage. Everything was looking good. I proceeded through 5 individual 30-min interviews. After each interview, I was quickly scheduled for the next one, signaling a positive reception to my candidacy. It was a challenge to schedule the last interview because the interviewer was in Singapore - so I was asked to provide some very early morning or late evening windows of time. I ended up having to take the interview at 6:30 pm my time. I was happy to do so, but it was also the interview I was least confident about because it came at the end of a long work day, after making dinner, trying to get some quiet time away from my kids, etc. In other words - I was beat. I had not heard anything after 2 days so I reached out to the recruiter for information on my status. Didn't receive a reply until the next week so I figured I was already out of consideration. But I didn't get a decline at this point. The recruiter said thanks for my patience as they were still in their interview process and he would get back in touch with me. It sounded like I was still under consideration but, at this point, my excitement and interest in the job really sank and I went on to other opportunities. About 3 weeks later I received an auto decline email to say thanks for my application but I wasn't selected. This really rubbed the wrong way. As a final stage candidate, a personal reply from the recruiter would have been more respectful - especially because I had spent a LOT of time with their interviewers, including late at night. Since then I've been through several other interviews and I've always received a thoughtful, polite reply from the recruiter if I make it to at least the hiring manager stage. I'm now accepting an offer from another company. If I wasn't a top candidate, they should not have kept advancing me through the panel and taking up my time. It's now months later and the job has been reposted so it seems they've gone through quite a few candidates and must be looking for someone very specific.