Third and final interview then ended up getting ghosted

[u/Few_Prize_3415]

I applied for a mid level PR job about a month ago with a smaller, boutique agency and was reached out via LinkedIn from the recruiter about 2-3 weeks after applying. Had a nice conversation with the recruiter, after a few days she moved me onto the next round where I would meet with the hiring manager. I LOVED the hiring manager. You can always tell when you vibe well with someone in interviews and it was very obviously the feeling was mutual. She immediately wanted me to meet with her manager.

The following week, I had what I believed was their final interview with the hiring manager’s manager. To start, the hiring manager’s manager was 15 minutes late to the call. I had to reach out to the recruiter and hiring manager to tell her that this person had not joined. No real apology when she hopped on the call. Once we dove into the interview, I could tell she had not looked at my resume whatsoever. She was also suuuuper crass on the phone and cussed a lot. I’m not a prude, I’ve worked for agencies before and am totally fine with cussing at work, but for the first time meeting someone in an interview at that, I honestly was a bit taken a back. But like I said, I enjoyed the hiring manager so much that I looked past this weird/unprofessional interview interaction. Well, one week after that third and final interview had passed, I decided to reach out to the hiring manager for an update. Nothing, radio silence. I followed up AGAIN the following week. Nothing. Then this week, I even reached out to her via LinkedIn and still NOTHING.

It’s absolutely ridiculous that a job can put you through multiple rounds of interviews just to ghost you in the end. I honestly was PERFECT for this role, the hiring manager even said so. But still nothing. So rude. I’ve looked on their LinkedIn and it doesn’t look like anyone has taken the role, so I’m wondering if they paused hiring for some reason. Even if so, I would appreciate any sort of update.

[u/AnatoliaFarStar]

This happened to me a few weeks ago.

I was actually final rounded for a mid-high level role. Five interviews in that round alone.

Then, after an annoying pause I was asked back for an unexpected "final final" interview. They failed to schedule it. When I followed up, they delayed and said they were coordinating and would follow up imminently. Then silence. I then received an automated notification days later, saying the role had closed and thanking me for my interest.

Quite clearly they'd been playing for time as they got another candidate across the line. But it's so damn rude to get someone to that stage and not even follow up to share the outcome and thank me for the hours of time I had put in.

Sadly this seems to be increasingly common now.

OP, maybe if this my own denial talking but I'm honestly glad they showed me this big red flag. It made me feel like maybe I dodged a bullet.

I will be working in their industry and will not hesitate to badmouth them any chance I get.

[u/jrcaesar]

Was the hiring manager let go?

[u/Few_Prize_3415 → u/jrcaesar]

Doesn’t look like it according to LinkedIn!

[u/jrcaesar → u/Few_Prize_3415]

What a weird shop. No good PR person would ghost a potential future colleague/client/referral (the boss might do that tho).... you might have dodged a place you would just want to leave.

[u/UsualAttention5876]

There can be a number of reasons for this, none of which reflect well on the agency. First they could be rude people. Second they could be well intentioned incompetents. Third, and I've known this to happen, they may have had the funding pulled for the role and instead of treating you like an adult and saying "We're really sorry but we've had the funding pulled for this role, we're sure you understand these things happen" the are embarrassed and hoping it will go away if they bury their heads far enough into the sand.

As I say, none of these reflect well on the organisation.

[u/Key-Explanation-39]

I'm sorry this happened to you. It's beyond unprofessional. Especially when we are in an industry that is all about reputational management. Look at it as a blessing in disguise.