The recruiter contacted me, stating they aimed to fill the BD position by the end of January or early February.
Including the initial screening call, I had seven interviews (both virtual and in-person) with over eight individuals over nearly four weeks. After my final interview, the hiring manager reiterated that a decision would be made soon. After two and a half weeks with no response, I reached out to the recruiter, who didn't reply. The following week (week 7), I contacted the hiring manager but received a response from the recruiter an hour and a half later, stating he should have an update by the end of the week.
The next day, the recruiter asked if I had other opportunities close to an offer. I replied that I did and needed to decide by the end of the week but was still interested in their position.
Three days later, he emailed, apologizing for the delay and citing scheduling conflicts, and asked again about other offers. I expressed my disappointment at the lack of updates and reiterated that I had other offers needing a decision by the end of the day.
His final email apologized again for the delay, acknowledged my need to decide, but stated they couldn't make an offer at that time and wouldn't have an update until the end of the following week.
Although it was a lengthy process, I sincerely enjoyed the experience up until that point; I started to feel as though I was being strung along, portraying as if I had a real shot and or hoping I would withdraw my candidacy because it seemed they didn't want to do it themselves.