To be honest, the process is really non-trivial and you almost never see something outstanding.
- Talent sourcer gets in touch with you
- You both setup a short meeting which is oftenly called pre-screening to get acquainted with each other and the company
- Next thing is n rounds of technical interviews where you really need to show your skills - algorithms, Engineering Thinking, system design, your knowledge of the market of tools available, etc etc etc
- If you are applying for a big fish and passed the previous parts successfully, you will be invited to attend onsite interviews. That means you will get a chance to see the city, office, meet with your potential future colleagues and have final interviews which are mostly more technical than previous ones.
- Also, onsite stage includes some culture fit, soft skills, general attitude interviews.
Usually, when applying for some middle outsourcing companies, you won't have really a lot of pressure on you or a lot of interviews. On the other hand, top CS companies such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook etc are able to do a selection through this multi-level interviewing process to be sure they get the best professionals as they have really a lot of people willing to work for them.
What is hilarious to me is that during the hiring process tech companies insist candidates know and follow best practices. And then when you actually work there (spoiler) you find out they actually just use a total disaster development (referred as TDD) process that's held together with duct tape and a few nails. It's like: "Oh do you eat like healthy food? Broccoli and that kind of stuff? Cool we hire you. Now go on and grab a lunch we offer for our employees - fried pork skin and cheese-wiz."
Most of the times, the whole process takes like 3-4 weeks. Then you receive a feedback. As said, a lot of mediocre outsourcing companies don't give a shit about feedback so it's a good practice to ping recruiter in like ~2 weeks after the interview just to remind them that you are still waiting for the feedback. When you are going on interviews not entirely for the offer, but for the gap identifying, detailed and constructive feedback is really valuable, no matter the result. It enables you to master your skills and fill the gaps and become a better specialist in the end.
What should you do after recruiter tells you didn't get an offer?
What I personally do is start asking what was the problem and so. If the problem was my technical expertise then I usually start pushing for one more interview after some period of filling the gaps in knowledge. Do I really want to get this offer now? Yes, because now I want to conquer this land as well, I want to prove that I'm qualified enough for this job. I'm sure that's not the best way of doing things because it's guilty a bit when I'm sure I won't work here, but still going for rounds of interviews or so.
The second option is that you've received an offer, but due to some reasons you cannot accept it. The best you can do is explain your concerns and start negotiating with employer. The second best you can do if this offer doesn't really fits you is to write a polite reply that you are sorry about it and wish employer good luck finding his ideal candidate though. What is quite important here is that you need mention that everything was cool and you would like to stay in touch further just in case any positions that could possibly fit you occurs in the employer's company.
Why keeping the connection is important?
No one knows how the industry will turn out tomorrow so it's best to be polite and leave a good impression of high-skilled professional in the first place and a good person in the second place. By having this network of people who know you are good, you gain a lot of reputation on the local market - e.g. they could recommend you to someone. Or, they can hire you for a leading position in ~few years.