Apple Rejection - Now What....

tl:dr - I was finalist at Apple (non-tech), rejected yesterday - Still interested in Apple - In progress with Google & Twitter - Ex-FAANG LONG POST: After 3+ weeks after my onsite, I was informed Apple chose the other finalist. My guess is that Apple extended an offer to the other finalist and the negotiation took about 1-2 weeks and if he/she declined, I was primed to be next in line. Apple checked 3 of my references during what I suspect was the negotiation period with the other candidate and my two former managers told me they were convinced that I was getting an offer. The third reference works at Apple and is a former colleague from FB also thought I was getting the offer. There was a point in this process where I was pursuing two roles at Apple but I stopped pursuing one because that recruiter was non-responsive and I preferred the role I recently was rejected for. The recruiter who relayed the bad news I felt shared genuine empathy as I've been rejected before and her compassion was much different. She's helping me look for other roles. This is the 2nd time in about 1.5 years I've made it this far with Apple and the first time, the role was offered to an internal candidate. Each time it has felt like a punch in the gut because I really saw myself there. While I've been looking for a really long time, and the job search is a numbers game, I don't feel bad for taking up to a day to grieve/mourn. Yes its just a job and there are "more fish in the sea" but I'm trying to bounce back quickly to focus on other interviews because I'm ready to go back to a regular job rather than continuing to side hustle. In this extended job search I've been a finalist for: 1) Apple 2) Twitch 3) Amazon 4) Strava 6) ViacomCBS (Pluto TV) 7) A fitness startup 8) Apple again My current Pipeline: 1) There are more roles at Apple that I could resume or begin interviewing for 2) I had a Google hangout interview with Google (they last heard I was possibly about to get an offer from Apple soon). I should get feedback early next week if I make it to onsite, have another phone interview, or get rejected 3) I have a phone interview tomorrow with Twitter (they also know I'm close on another possible offer with a company I didn't mention). 4) I had a phone screen with Roku but their recruiting is the worst TC: 220 YOE: 11 #apple #google #twitter #jobsearch #applecareers #applecareer #googlecareer #googlecareers #twittercareers #twittercareer