Two final-round processes ran in parallel over two weeks. Company A came through a consulting firm; the recruiters there were happy with him and said they wanted to skip the try-to-hire and bring him on directly, sharing the salary and conditions of work. On Tuesday they said a formal offer was being prepared and would arrive shortly.
Company B moved faster. On Friday it said it wanted to hire him and sent the written offer on Saturday morning. He had told A’s recruiters on Friday that a competing offer was coming. But B wanted an answer by Sunday — other candidates were waiting. He liked the offer and did not want to gamble it on a potential offer he did not yet have, so he accepted.
On Sunday he wrote a courteous note to A’s recruiters, thanked them, and explained that B’s deadline had forced the decision.
The reply came from one of A’s recruiters: he had not even had the patience to wait; he had only mentioned the competing offer on Friday, so he had clearly made up his mind beforehand and strung them along; they could not imagine how much effort had gone into the process.
He was tempted to write to Company A directly — he had liked them, and the consulting firm would now paint him badly — but he was not sure it was worth his time. He posted to vent instead.