Respect? What's that?

Today is gonna be set aside for some serious bitching. One of my co-workers is being deployed to Germany to back fill for some troops in the Gulf. Not what I am bitching about, be patient. We are a small group of 4 so losing 25% of our staff is a hard hit, especially for a year and a half. No, still not what I am bitching about, gimme a few more minutes. So we know we hafta get someone in here to supplement his absence. So our boss, who is the nicest guy in the world, starts the interview process. We interview several guys over the phone, finally paring the group down to a few that will come in for a face to face. The face to face interviews go well and, as a group and this is very important, we decide on one guy. No dissention, no debate. One guy stands out as the man. His combination of skills and personality are a true fit. Probably better than the impression that I made when I interviewed (more on that later). See, in our group we are network admins. We have a certain level of skill that fits this position. When I interviewed, I will admit, my skill set was a bit more in depth for this position. But I interviewed well and in my defense, this was and is the type of position and company that I am looking for. I am older, I have been around this industry in this town for over 15 years so when I say that I want a certain position in a certain company, I know what I want. Yes, I am in full bitch mode right now but NO, this is still not exactly what I want to bitch about! So anyway, I got the position here and I know there were some opinions that I was a little too experienced and that I would get bored here.

Now, we had made our opinions known about our favorite candidate and the reasons why we thought he was the one to go with. Our boss even agreed, for a period of time anyway. About a week and a half later, and after two or three more phone interviews we are told that a decision is made and that another candidate has been chosen. The guy chosen is young, hungry and very skilled. He is/was an enterprise admin that seems to be on the way up and he wants it quickly. He said some things in the face to face interview that made it very apparent that he wants certain things out of his next job. The guy we had chosen was more reserved and a bit more stable as far as career path is concerned. But it seems that it didn't matter. We had an end around done on us. No reason why, just done. Why have us interview? Why ask us who we would prefer? Why ask our opinion at all? I have a theory as to why it was done this way and I am pretty sure about this theory although it has not been proven. Time will tell. I will keep an open mind and remember that I might have been thought of the same way. But I will also be on the look out for some signs. I will know them when I see them.