Internal candidate chosen over me twice at same company.

Last fall, I interviewed for a director level role at a company I've always wanted to work for. I made it all the way to the final round of interviews at a great property in my industry. Throughout the entire interview process I really connected with everyone I intrviewed with. I was feeling confident in myself. The General Manager really liked me and we clicked instantly. I had just been laid off from a mid-level management role, so landing a director role right after being laid off felt like the ultimate redemption. In the end, they went with an internal candidate. When I got the call from the GM and HR about their decision, they had nothing but nice things to say and kept the door open to apply for future roles. I was bummed but all of their positive feedback helped the sting hurt a little less.

Fast forward to this month there was another job opening at the same property. It was an entry-level role but in a subsector of my industry I don't have a lot of direct experience in. I was willing to take the step down to fill my resume with new skills and open the door to more opportunities in the future. I submitted my application and reached out to the GM. He connected me with the recruiter for the role. I spoke with her then spoke with the hiring manager the next day since we were already connected via LinkedIn from my last interview. The first thing the hiring manager said was they already had an internal candidate indentified for the role. I knew exactly how this was going to go but I still put on my best smiling face and felt like I interviewed well regardless. Good practice I guess. I didn't even send a follow up thank you email. A few days later I got the rejection email.

Why waste my time? Why not let me know ahead of an interview that an internal candidate was already identified before scheduling something with me since you already know me? Why get my hopes up? UGH. Not going to go through this with that property again.