This a actually worked out for a co-worker. He interviewed for a position and the interview went of like 6 hours. He waited 6 months and never heard anything. He applied for another position at my company. Different team, lower pay and not in his specialized field. He got that job. Another 3 months and the boss for the first job called him and said their initial hire didn't work out and asked if he was still interested.

He laughed and said he was already working but would be interested. The boss asked where he was working. He replied "I'm actually down stairs".

He got the job, more money then the initial offer and he was happy in the new position. Probably an unlikely event and I wouldn't recommend trying to duplicate it.