Not only for developers. My current "favorite", which I hope is never surpassed, was a 3+ months long process involving nearly a dozen different interviews, ess

Not only for developers. My current "favorite", which I hope is never surpassed, was a 3+ months long process involving nearly a dozen different interviews, essays, tests, an interview with the CEO who actually approved hiring me, a direct statement that I was the only person who had made it through all of that and that it was probably impossible to find someone better suited for the specific role, and, then, nope. Developer hiring is exceptionally awful for lots of reasons, but there are wider problems now.