NIGHTMARE Recruitment Process at Nomura Global Markets (15 interviews & Rejected in Final round by HR)

To provide some insight,  I am a recent graduate from a top 50 globally ranked university, with a Bachelor of Commerce. As a Japanese bilingual, I attended the Boston Career Forum, where I received an internship offer from Nomura within their Global Markets division in their Tokyo headquarters.

Upon the completion of the internship (end of May), I unfortunately did not receive a return offer. Oh well, not a big deal. This was until I networked with a few Nomura Sales Trader execs from North America on LinkedIn around August, who asked me from their side if I wanted to join their West Coast operations as an Equity Salesperson. I agreed, and we completed 3 interviews in the span of quite literally 3 months (did 2 in August, and ghosted me completely until late October where they wanted to conduct another), ultimately leading to a phone call from the head of North American operations telling me "we'll give you some advice, you should work at the HQ for a few years and then come over to our branch", like okay 3  months of anticipation for not a rejection, not an offer, but a 5 minute phone call of advice.

I was extremely frustrated about the fact that they took an immense amount of time to conduct the interviews for a position they initially offered me, just to give me some advice that didn't help me in the slightest. 

I thought my encounter with Nomura would end there; let me tell you, that was just the tip of the iceberg. 

Late November rolls around, and the HR rep from Tokyo emails me, asking me if I am still interested in working full-time in Nomura HQ (in Japan). Despite the unpleasantness I felt with their North American team, I still wanted to gain exposure within Sales and Trading and thought that it would indeed be a great opportunity. Furthermore, I was not competing with anyone for the position, so I thought why not. Therefore, I said yes.

Within the span of 2 months, I completed a total of 12 interviews. Yes, I am not making a typo here. 12 interviews.  I am not going to lie, some of the interviewers were extremely nice, and especially the people working on the actual desk I was supposed to be at were absolutely wonderful (shoutout to you guys, I am extremely grateful for your support and kindness), but cmon man lol. 12 interviews are ABSOLUTELY ABSURD. I just cannot see how that is necessary. This cannot be morally correct, especially for an upcoming grad. I have never even heard of this in Bulge Brackets for IB.

The first 6 interviews were online (I'm based in North America), and they told me that I would have to do the final interviews in Japan, which they flew me out for. I was told that 4 interviews would be conducted in person, WHICH WAS A LIE, and I did an additional 2.

Up until the final round, the interviewers consisted of various execs on the trading floor, certain directors, the head of different desks, etc. THE FINAL ROUND, however, was conducted by HR, and I thought that they would simply be providing me with contract information and negotiating start dates. I was dead wrong; I was absolutely drilled by an HR exec who quite literally disliked every single answer of mine (the same answers that got me to the final stage) and was kept for 30 minutes longer than the scheduled interview time. But I got along with the people on the desk I was supposed to work for, I was given the green light from what felt like the entire trading floor, surely I would be fine?

I got a phone call a week later saying the HR person said to cancel my application.

I don't know if this is a cultural aspect specific to Japan or simply a Nomura thing, but no upcoming grad should ever have to go through this. Ever. They made me carry a suit around during Christmas break when I was on vacation in Vegas with my family to do virtual interviews (completely disregarding the fact that I was just trying to spend time with family, not stress about interviews), put me in a constant state of unease as I felt like there was simply no light in the end of the tunnel with interview after interview, was reminded constantly by people in Nomura when I was at the HQ about "hey, if you don't perform well in this next interview, this person can easily reject your whole application and your trip would have been for nothing". This whole process felt like I was getting hazed in a fraternity. 

This process completely ruined my confidence, and I am now considering giving up on this industry; I think S&T is extremely interesting, but another 15 interviews just for the potential chance to break into the field is simply not worth it in my opinion. 

What do you guys think? Any advice, please?