job lead fizzles

I didn't get the job I was up for. I got shortlisted, as I so often seem to do, but they went with another candidate. It was actually an enjoyable process, though. Interviewing with small firms can often be interesting strictly from getting to learn about the business from the people who run it. This doesn't happen with large firms. There you get lost in the paperwork of their HR apparatus, and often find yourself meeting with someone who hasn't yet read your resume!