WBF, I think you must know it's naive to assume the recruitment process is primarily tasked with finding "the best" - it's simply there these days to provide a legally defendable way to say no to the vastly over subscribed number of candidates BA will receive.
I'm sure every pilot, at every base, on every fleet, in every airline around the country can remember feeling at some time or other utterly shocked at those BA have both turned down and accepted over the years.
Nothing new, their train set etc...