I went through a 4-stage interview process and completed every step. A couple days later, I was called for a special debrief and told that I had done exceptionally well across all stages. I was then told that company priorities had shifted and they were no longer hiring for the position. That was extremely frustrating. If the role was not secure enough to support hiring, the company could have paused the process earlier. Instead, I was taken through the full loop, including recorded audio and video interviews, only to be told afterward that there was no role to fill. Given that the interviews were recorded, I also would have appreciated more transparency around how candidate interview data is retained and used when a process ends this way. I would not go through this process again, and I strongly caution candidates to confirm that the role is actively funded, approved, and open before investing time in the interview process.