I saw the posting on LinkedIn, and saw that my own skills and experience were an extremely good match, so I applied--in fact, there was only one single skill I did not have experience with, but it was listed as "a plus", implying it wasn't necessarily part of the core requirements. Very soon after, an HR representative reached out and scheduled a screening call. I went through it, and while I found it slightly intimidating, I ultimately succeeded they let me know I would proceed to the next round, having a virtual interview to meet with the team. This happened about a week later, and I spent the time leading up to it vigorously reviewing my knowledge of the required tools I had known from my last DevOps-type role, by going on LinkedIn Learning (which I get with my library card) and going to the quizzes and reviewing the questions. This was greatly beneficial, as when I went to the interview I could demonstrate knowledge in everything and correctly answered their technical questions, and it was not easy to get to this point; I had felt quite accomplished and happy with myself afterwards. At the end of the interview, when it was time for myself to ask questions, my last question was "What are the next steps?" and they explained that it could be a few weeks before I heard back. They weren't kidding. Fifteen days go by, and I hear nothing, so I email the HR representative who did the first round (as I didn't even have the email addresses of the three people who interviewed me at the second stage). She said that the manager was still reviewing other candidates, and that they would be in touch once a decision was made. 27 days go by, and I still hear nothing, but I now see the job re-posted on LinkedIn and their website, even though the status of my application on the career website still says "In Pending", so I once again send an email to the HR person asking for an update. She thanked me for reaching out and said that she had reached out to the hiring manager for feedback, and that he was still interviewing. Nine more days go by without hearing anything and I send an email to her asking for an update, but she's now on vacation, so I send an email to her backup, but I still hear nothing. Finally, I decided I would just *guess* the email addresses of the three people who interviewed me as being firstname.lastname@sunlife.com so I could ask them directly, and since the emails didn't bounce back, it seems I had guessed correctly. Two days later, one of the interviewers indeed responded, saying that while I had some relevant experience for the role (and I think "some" is an understatement, because even at the time they seemed impressed how close of a match it was), they were looking for someone with significant, hands-on experience in this one aspect that was listed as a "plus" in the job description, even though I had everything else. If that's the case, why even interview me at all, since my resume and LinkedIn have always been upfront about what skills I do and don't have? And then two weeks later the original HR person phones me up, over two months after my interview, and tells me I didn't get it. I told her I already communicated with the team lead who informed me, and she just said "OK, fantastic. Have a good day!" and that was it--so unbelievably callous. I was strung along for two months and given false hope, all for nothing.