A little over a month ago I had an interview for a government job. They told me at the time that they would be doing reference checks on the top 3 candidates. 2 weeks later I had a call from their HR telling me that I was second in the competition and that the top candidate had accepted. But the department wanted to hire a 2nd position from that competition. She asked if I would be interested and I said yes. I was then told they would be checking references and it would go to the CEO of the department for approval. 2 of my 3 references contacted me in the next few days to let me know they had been contacted. The third is actually a director in the department I interviewed for (I worked there before). It went to the CEO 2 weeks ago and I still haven't heard anything. I contacted HR a few days ago and there has been no decision. Its driving me crazy if I got this job! I don't think HR would tell me I was second and there was a second job if I wasn't the top candidate. But they also told me they were checking references on the top 3 and obviously didn't.

Not how the government works, at least when I worked there, For each job opening, they take the top three that are interviewed. Just because you are the top ( normally scored in points) does not mean you get hired, they are free to hire any of the top