I applied, went through pre-screening, then had a call with the managers. The call was very laid back, the role was explained and was told I would hear back shortly. Two weeks went by and I had heard nothing. I followed up with the recruiter, she stated a decision hadn’t been made yet and she would follow up when she heard back. Right after I received the standard “we went with a candidate more closely aligned with the requirements…” email. I can accept not being chosen but to tell me my experience didn’t align when 1.)If I made it past pre-screening then something aligned and 2.) this role was a previous job title of mine. I say all of this to say, if you know you aren’t going to hire someone, don’t drag them through an entire process just to waste their time. I truly feel as though I would’ve never heard back had I not followed up.