Interviewing, they wrote, had become a nightmare: making it through round after round, reaching the very end, and then being rejected before an offer — and at reputable, well-known companies, not just the stragglers.
With one large company, the count reached ten. Ten rounds, only to hear no at the end. They could not fathom how a company could spend that much time interviewing someone and still need that long to decide.
They had cleared recruiter screens, hiring-manager interviews, technical interviews, behavioural interviews, and take-home assignments. Each time, the company chose to move them forward — so an offer seemed genuinely possible. Each time, the final decision was another rejection.
Being taken to the final round is supposed to mean something. It stops feeling like encouragement, they said, when it happens over and over. They were left to wonder what shifted at the very end, replaying every answer to find the one that had sunk them.
The preparation, the waiting, the raised hopes, and then starting from zero again — it was wearing them down. They asked how anyone who had escaped the loop had done it, and how they had kept their confidence intact.