Hoodwinked, Baboozled and Led Astray!

I went on a job interview a couple of weeks ago for a position with a company that will be relocating to my state in a couple of months. The first step in the process was a phone interview with the Manager which I aced and led to the in-person interview.

I felt that the stars were aligned in my favor with this interview. The manager with whom I had the phone interview was an African-American guy from my home state and we graduated from high school a few years apart.

I arrived for my in-person interview a few weeks later and met face to face with the manager. He was so impressed by my credentials, instead of considering me for a consultant role, he saw me in one of the lead positions. He said the final decision was ultimately his in regards to who would be hired and he told me to make sure I left my cellphone on. The interview went well and as he walked me to the office of his both, he told me to "go in there and get my job".

I met with his manager, another African-American male, who, although he had my resume in front of him, did not ask me any questions but pleasantly (and with a few expletives thrown around for good measure) told me about the company, his goals for the department, the fact that the first guy had the final decisions in hiring, yada yada yada, etc, until he finally asked me if I had any questions. I asked three suitable questions and at the end of the session, he escorted me to the elevator.

I felt as if I had aced the interview and wasn't alarmed when I didn't hear from the Hiring Manager that evening since he had more people to hire the next day and it would be the Executive Recruiter from the Recruiting agency that referred me that would notify me anyway.

After waiting in anticipation over the weekend and Monday, on Tuesday, I received a call stating that I was not one of the 8 candidates selected and although they were impressed with my credentials, they were pursuing other candidates. They went on to say that once they established their office and had any openings available, I would be at the top of their list.

I was so hurt! I actually shed tears and I'm not an emotional person. That job would have meant a lot to me as I have been unemployed due to a layoff and my unemployment benefits are getting close to the end of the road. Also, since it was in my chosen profession, I was even more eager to get back to work. I think what hurt the most was the fact that I was pumped up to believe that the job was mine, only to find out that I wasn't chosen for any of the eight positions available.

Does anyone else have a similar experience to share?