If I didn't know better, I'd agree with you. Thing is, this organization is quite good, but HR is useless. Unfortunately, all hires have to go through this draconian and incredibly difficult HR department – for reasons I guess – and they just seem to throw spanners around for a living, especially into works. HR acts largely as their own separate entity, which isn't uncommon with these kinds of organizations, and play more or less by their own rules. What they do isn't indicative of the rest of the organization. It bugs me a lot that we couldn't offer him what he wanted, and for no good reason either.