A recruiter initially reached out to me on Linkedin and set up a meeting with me shortly after. It went well and she scheduled me to meet the hiring manager for the department I was applying to. That second interview also *seemingly* went well - the hiring manager asked me technical questions as well as situational "what would you do if..." sort of questions. As that interview was coming to a close, he said, "You'll be hearing from us soon, I have a really good feeling about this." He even listed the next steps of the hiring process in great detail which gave me the impression that I was moving forward. Unfortunately, I got an email from the recruiter a day later saying that they decided not to go forth with my candidacy as they needed more experience. While I totally understand that they may have needed a different skillset for this role, it just seemed really abrupt and like it came out of nowhere, especially when the initial feedback from the HM was positive. I don't think it's fair to raise one's hopes like that.