There were 4 rounds of interview scheduled and each interviewer was very warm. First round was direct supervisor of the role who was located overseas. 2nd round was the local supervisor, 3rd was HR follow led by country head

I applied online through their careers portal, and was contacted the next day. The phone screen took approximately 30 minutes. I was told by the recruiter I had everything they were looking for. I went to the next step of having a phone interview with the hiring manager. Again, I was told I had everything they were looking for and moved on to 2 video interviews and 3 onsite interviews. The onsite interviews were rushed. I was interviewed by 3 people for 30 minutes each. There was not enough time to discuss the position and my qualifications. I was told by each interviewer I had what they were looking for. The interviews seemed casual and they were "supposed to" ask me questions set up by their People Team. My last interviewer did not arrive to the scheduled video interview. Once it was rescheduled, their Blue Jeans application stated there was no interview scheduled, so the interviewer called me via phone as a last resort. It appeared that he thought I had issues, but I believe someone in HR forgot to schedule our video interview with him, but there is no way to know if this happened (no explanation was provided as to why he did not arrive). During my phone interview with him, he stated several times that I had what they were looking for, that I fit the culture and goals of Red Hat, and that I would be hearing back from their recruiter very soon. All indications from the hiring manager and interviewers pointed to me receiving an offer. I understand that they cannot be held accountable for changing their minds, but it is irresponsible to lead a candidate on the way they did. A panel interview would have been more efficient and would have ensured all questions were answered, but they were rushing these interviews before their holiday shutdown so they did not provide adequate time for themselves nor the candidates. I did not hear back from the recruiter, even after I followed up with emails regarding my status as a candidate. I only found out that I was rejected after checking the careers portal on their website. After all the time spent, and the day of PTO I took from my current employer, an email sent to the candidate as a courtesy would be greatly appreciated. It is unfortunate that their talent acquisition team works this way, as I also work in HR, and do not treat candidates this way, and I was a referral from a current employee, so my candidate experience was disappointing in the end. Which is ironic because one of the interviewers boasted greatly about how they ensure their candidate experience is top-notch. Oh well.