I initially applied mid May and the initial HR interview was a week later. Having been moved forward it was a further week before I had an interview confirmed that was on the Bank holiday Monday with 3 people in the same role. I passed this interview and was informed I would have a 3rd and final interview with senior management. During this interview I was told that I was up against an internal candidate which was fine with me. The next day I get an email with an invite to another interview with even more senior management. I was confused as I was told the 3rd round was the final one. During the 4th interview I was asked almost identical questions to the 3rd and assumed this was the final step of the process. Alas this was not the case. A few days later I am sent an assignment with a bulk of data to analyse and create a dashboard, 30-60-90 day plan and a weighted scorecard. I had a catch up with the initial HR person where I was informed that I was the only person that had made it to the 'final' 3rd interview and that the senior manager had in fact fabricated the internal candidate. I decided to start cleaning the data but after spending time doing it I made the decision to give up as it felt as if I had already wasted enough time (6 weeks) and several hours of interviews. I would recommend that you are clear from the outset not only to the potential recruit but also align internally on what the process is and the timeline.