I was contacted by a recruiter who coordinated communication with the CEO's Executive Assistant to arrange a call with the CEO. My call with the CEO went well and I was told by the CEO I'd hear back by the end of the following week. I did not hear back by the end of the following week, and upon following up I learned they had moved forward with candidates who where already familiar with some of the members of the engineering department. I was told by the CEO that they "usually hire connected folks first", which had me wondering why they'd spend time talking to me first if they had familiar candidates queued up.