> I've suspected for a while that companies with long, drawn-out hiring processes are using the delay to see if someone better (for some definition of "better")

> I've suspected for a while that companies with long, drawn-out hiring processes are using the delay to see if someone better (for some definition of "better") will come along. Ah, that's an interesting explanation, seems much more likely than a hustle to get (not even very cheap) short term labour. That could be the case at least for the second of the companies, for the first one I think it might be more down to inexperience or recklessness.