Thanks for the additional context, it's helpful. Here's my guess as to what happened - you went through your interview loop, and the feedback was mixed, maybe one interview was a "no hire" or two were a "lean no hire". The recruiter decided that your packet was too weak to go to hiring committee as-is, so they went and lined up a hiring manager to support the packet. All of this took time, unfortunately, and then the packet got rejected at HC anyway.
Do you know what level you were interviewing at? At least for PMs, the more junior/early-career levels, the more latitude we are willing to give hiring managers (within reason- big red flags are big red flags regardless) - effectively, if someone is borderline and the hiring manager says "I'm willing to take them on and here's how I'm going to mentor them to address the gaps", I'm typically willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. For more senior levels where the expectations are higher anyway, fundamental skills gaps are more concerning.
All this is just to say - I'm sorry this was such a bad experience. The new hiring process rolling out, where you team match before you interview, is specifically to reduce the cycle times in hiring so we don't miss out on great candidates due to our bureaucracy. I'd encourage you to reapply when you are eligible again - ask your recruiter when you become eligible (a year? I don't remember), but obviously I understand if this experience has soured you on the process entirely. You can also always reach out to me privately - my work email is zito@ (the google).
Do you know what level you were interviewing at? At least for PMs, the more junior/early-career levels, the more latitude we are willing to give hiring managers (within reason- big red flags are big red flags regardless) - effectively, if someone is borderline and the hiring manager says "I'm willing to take them on and here's how I'm going to mentor them to address the gaps", I'm typically willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. For more senior levels where the expectations are higher anyway, fundamental skills gaps are more concerning.
All this is just to say - I'm sorry this was such a bad experience. The new hiring process rolling out, where you team match before you interview, is specifically to reduce the cycle times in hiring so we don't miss out on great candidates due to our bureaucracy. I'd encourage you to reapply when you are eligible again - ask your recruiter when you become eligible (a year? I don't remember), but obviously I understand if this experience has soured you on the process entirely. You can also always reach out to me privately - my work email is zito@ (the google).