Four Rounds. Four Weeks. One Ghost Job.

A job seeker at a mid-sized tech company cleared four interview rounds over four weeks: a phone screen, a hiring manager interview, a four-hour unpaid take-home assignment, and a final panel with three interviewers. Two days after the final round, a recruiter emailed to say the company had "decided to freeze the headcount" for the rest of the year — but would keep the resume on file. The candidate then saw the exact same job reposted on LinkedIn, timestamped two hours earlier. A roommate applied using a fake name and a slightly adjusted resume. Within ten minutes, an automated email declared the role "filled" — even though the listing remained active. A Glassdoor check turned up three other reviews from the past six months describing the identical sequence: all four rounds, a phantom hiring freeze, and an immediate repost.