Initially, I talked to the hiring manager. We got along really well and I liked her a lot. So they brought me in for an in-person a couple weeks later. It was a pannel style interview, everyone was really friendly. By that Friday, HR reached out to get my referrals. I gave them my list, and they called them. Another two weeks passed after they called my last referral, and I decided to send them an update request email. They told me they had gone with someone else. I was flabbergasted. To be ghosted after going through the whole process of getting my former managers in touch with them, just for them to ghost me, is befuddling. I get if it was after the screening interview, okay. But after all that, and for me to have to chase them down for a rejection? That was actually shocking. Did they really have multiple people give their references? That was actually kind of cruel, especially considering the current job market.