I went through a full interview loop for an executive role and became a finalist. Right at the end, the CTO froze the pipeline to execute an internal promotion instead. During this phase, the recruiting staff changed, and my progress in the previous process was lost. Months later, the company reopened the abandoned role and I could finally reconnect a month after re-applying. The new recruiters tried their best to be professional. They promised a long and thorough 4-stage process and stating they were "not in a rush to hire." Less than a week after the pre-screening, waiting for the next steps, they announced the process was finished after extending a job offer to another candidate, ignoring their own hiring process, disclosed to candidates in the job description, contradicting their own statement of not hiring in a rush. According to the feedback, the CTO intervened in the process, overriding it for his own needs, undermining the recruiting team structure process. There is a massive gap between the company’s advertised culture and how it actually operates. The leadership environment is reportedly chaotic, and the hiring process suffers from arbitrary management, turning into false expectations and a waste of time and effort.