Was contacted a few weeks ago after completing a very detailed application process. A phone interview was set with the HR recruiter. It was over a week later that I heard back about a face to face interview with the hiring manager for the following week. I drove the 3+ hours from my home to meet for slightly more than an hour with the director who had also flown in from elsewhere. About a week later I was called by the recruiter who said that the senior/managing partner wanted to have a phone interview with me. A few days after arranging this, the recruiter said he partner wanted to see me face to face. I asked if this would really be necessary as I would have to take one whole day off again, and she assured me it would. Again I did the 6+ hour roundtrip for what ended up being a very informal 45 minute meeting. During the interview, he asked about my day, and I mentioned it was a nice drive from xxxxxxxx. He was genuinely shocked, and saying he was sorry as no one told him I was not local. About 1-2 weeks later I got a call from the hiring manager's administrator who set up a time for the hiring manager to call me. As I felt all had gone well, I was somewhat expecting an offer. Instead when he called, I was told that they decided to hire someone else. I told him that I did appreciate the courtesy of the phone call, and asked if he could give me any feedback or tell me what set the successful candidate apart. There was a slight hesitationbefore he told me that the person hired had worked with a system similar to theirs. It seemed like he started to say something else then stopped. I thanked him for considering me and we hung up. I was disappointed that for such a large company they did not seem to talk to pch other about the candate and process. I have over 25 years experience in my field, and have sat on both sides of the interviewing desk many times. I do believe the age disparity worked against me, as I estimate I was 15-25 years older than everyone I interviewed with. I did submit all my mileage for both round trips over (700 miles+) and they paid it without issue. Everyone was nice enough but I was disappointed with the result, the risk to my (then) current job, and the general lack of internal communication and oversight.