Seven interview rounds, all positive. Then a month of nothing. No offer, no rejection, not even a courtesy email. The candidate had cleared every gate a company could throw at them and was left staring at an empty inbox.
When the recruiter finally resurfaced, it was not with a decision. It was with a request for one more round. The role had gone through an 'organisational change' and now reported to a different hiring manager. The candidate, already seven rounds deep and a month into limbo, agreed. What was one more?
The eighth interview happened. Then silence again. This time, permanent.
The posting, they later noticed, had been open for over eight months. Commenters on the viral r/recruitinghell thread were sharply divided between sympathy and pragmatism. One veteran summed up the consensus: 'I do not engage with any company that requires that many interviews.' Another asked the question everyone was thinking: when did job hunting go from one or two conversations to an eight-week, eight-round endurance test with no guarantee of a reply?