That kinda sucks to actually know the person who got "your" position. It would almost be better for it to be an unknown "perfect" person. Maybe your new (his old) position will be the same sort of stepping stone towards future better things. Hugs.

This is actually the third time something like this has happened to me. Twice I've been passed over for a job that someone I knew got and once I got a job that someone I knew had applied for.

The recruiter at this most recent interview said that there would be a similar position open in the fall and that they'd consider me then. They're all cool people and I have no hard feelings. Also it's not like I'm unemployed, I was just looking for something more interesting.

This has happened to me a lot too -- I've been at the same office since 1999, and, let's see, 4 times I have had to compete with coworkers for another job in that office. Three of those times I then had to work with those people after they got the job and I didn't. It's tough, and awkward. I hope you at least felt the hiring process was fair?

It's a small company, I'm not sure that they have anything like a hiring process other than going around the table and raising hands for either candidate A or candidate B.

Anyway this at least has gotten me to screw up my courage enough to finally apply for a job at that multi-color logo-ed search engine company. Their recruiters have been pestering me off and on for close to a decade and I've never had the courage to actually go through their hiring process.