I think it's possible for both things to be true at the same time. Yes it's a selective meritocracy, and it's also true that the process unnecessarily alienates

I think it's possible for both things to be true at the same time. Yes it's a selective meritocracy, and it's also true that the process unnecessarily alienates people. It comes down to recruiters being given the very difficult task of finding candidates for a process with such a high rejection rate, and the added stress of being given very specific rules about the things you can't be transparent about. The overwhelming majority of job seekers are mature adults who can handle rejection and constructive negative feedback. It's the sense of having wasted one's time that generates the "sour grapes" feeling.