How common is it for HR to change their search criteria mid-process? Driving me insane

Had this happen to me 3 times in a row recently and it's unbelievably frustrating.

A perfect-sounding role opens up in a team within a strong fund, I put my name forward and get 2-3 interviews into the process, I get unmistakably strong feedback at each stage and then they completely pivot their search and decide they need to hire someone at a wildly different experience level (e.g. 10+ years). Pretty demoralising to have this keep happening after investing a lot of time into each one.

Is this common or have I just been unlucky? It just pisses me off that they don't care at all about doing this since it's of no consequence to them obviously.

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It happened to me once when I was younger with a REIT and more recently with a major development firm. I wouldn't take it personally though - just as going through the hiring process is you figuring out if you would like to work in that role you applied to, asking questions or whatnot, sometimes interviewing candidates helps the company refine what they are looking for. Much better they figure that out early versus hiring you and then realizing 6 months in you weren't what they were looking for.

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