Best Qualified But

You may have been the best qualified applicant, but. . .

• They felt they owed the job to another person.
• They have a long acquaintance with an inside applicant and believe they'll have a better sense of how that person will handle the job.
• Your application simply arrived at the wrong time. If it had been a month earlier or later, your skills would have been far more attractive.
• Your brilliance came through in the interview. Unfortunately, they believe someone that smart might be disruptive.
• There is one team member who is either so much like you or so much unlike you that they are afraid of putting the two of you together.
• They have a rigid and illogical view of what the successful applicant should resemble and you don't fit the mode.