You may well be right, Kmar. I actually told my husband that I thought John (the internal candidate) would be better off taking one of his other offers. I've often said that it's good to have a short-term job as your first one, so that you can make all your mistakes and learn your lessons, *then* move on to the company/school where you hope to build your career so you hit the ground running and impress everyone.
On the plus side, they contacted the external candidate early this week and he had not accepted any other offers yet. He apparently really wanted this job and was delaying his other places to see if it would come through. They made him the offer, did some negotiating, and he's supposed to give them his final answer on Monday. My husband thinks it's a good bet he'll take it, which would make everything work out ok in the end, since he really did like this guy for the job.
Let's hope so.
Kathy
