Honestly, initially, this was a great process. HR contacted me, was transparent about the role and salary to ensure it aligned with my goals/interests. The first interview was great; it went well. I was then recommended for a second interview, which also went well. They were all very communicative about the process and timeline, which was so different than what I had experienced with other potential jobs. After about a week or two, the HR rep reached out via email on a Friday to advise that they went with someone else with a little more experience, which is understandable. She said they couldn't even offer any feedback, because I was great and they really liked me, it was just that another candidate had more tech experience. However, she advised that they were looking to open a second position, and if I could more or less sit tight for that, as they would know early the next week. Naturally, I said yes. However, very early Monday morning I received another email telling me that they had the approval for the second position, and the other candidate who was in the running accepted over the weekend, so thanks and we'll keep you in mind for the future. Now, I totally understand going with a better candidate; that doesn't make me upset. However, this felt so inconsiderate that I was really rather livid. Either this woman spoke out of turn, telling me about a position that was offered to someone else when she should not have, OR she gave me the information deliberately to ensure I'd be the next option in the event this other person declined. Clearly, they had the approval Friday, and if the person accepted over the weekend, the offer must have been made Friday. It would have been absolutely nothing to them to just hold off contacting me about any position until Monday. If the second candidate accepted the second position, they could have mentioned nothing about it and only referenced the original job to which I applied, and said, "Sorry, but you didn't get it." Or, had the second person declined, they could've contacted me Monday and said, "You didn't get the original position, but we were able to get another slot that we'd like to offer to you." It felt like they had no regard for me as a person/human being with a family/people relying upon me. They built it up as though they really liked me and didn't want to lose me, so they were opening another job, and it was more or less mine, should I want it if approved. It was totally false hope and just a very unethical, rude way to treat people.