Applied to position posted on a job board and was contacted by phone directly by the hiring managger (a peer of the position I applied for) for a screening within a week of submitting resume. She asked some basic questions and then determined and told me I was very qualified for the position and to come in to discuss the opportunity and meet the team. We scheduled it for the week after which was right before Christmas. I went, met every single member of the team, incuding one potential boss on his way to a sabbatical (who tested my lanuage skills), as well as the would be boss who showed up 1 hour late having gotten caught in traffic. He was quite apologetic and the one I was with was very mad about the whole thing. I didn't meet with the peer who had called me as she was quite ill and home. I spent approximately 4 hours there and left with the feeling an offer was upcoming. I was extatic as the fit was indeed perfect and this position looked like it had been written for me. The holidays went by and when the 10th of Jan rolled around I emailed them to touch base, having not heard from anyone. I didn't get an answer to that email for three days. Finally I got an answer from the peer I hadn't met who told me that someone else had gotten the job even though my qualifications were (quote) "stellar" and that she was really sorry about it. I have to say that I could not for the life of me figure out why. The whole thing made no sense to me. I had had fantastic contacts and everything went swimmingly I thought. Apparently I was misktaken. I have over 15 years experience and use to coach people and I've never had this happen to that degree. I do not know what happened (other than nepotism maybe...).