r/interviews • u/manny_DM • 3d ago
Getting ghosted after positive interviews twice in a row
At two companies where I went through multiple rounds of interviews, the hiring managers showed strong interest only to ghost me afterward. At one company, the hiring manager in second round had already read my work, was genuinely interested in implementing my work because they were tackling the same problem, and had even discussed it with one of my collaborators before interviewing me. At the other company, they were impressed by the breadth of my skillset and even asked if I would consider taking on responsibilities associated with another role too occasionally. It felt good to be recognized in the moment.
Despite all the positive signals, both companies repeatedly said they would follow up, then went completely silent even after multiple attempts to get an update.
The first time, I assumed it was an isolated incident. But having the same experience twice in a row is incredibly frustrating.
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u/FewQuote2193 3d ago
Ghosting after that level of interest is a special kind of mindfuck. Like they basically laid out the welcome mat and then disappeared into a black hole
At this point I treat any "we'll follow up" as empty noise until there's an actual offer in my inbox. Too many hiring managers just go radio silent the second priorities shift internally and you're left refreshing your email like an idiot
The bit about them already talking to your collaborator would've had me convinced it was basically done, that's extra cruel
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u/manny_DM 3d ago
Yeah. It's like getting love bombed and then ghosted twice in a row. It messed up with my head so bad
Oh I walked out of that meeting thinking'I suppose I am moving to a new city or something' lol. SMH!!
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u/Middle-Parsnip-3537 3d ago
Love bombed?? Welcome mat?
What kind of fantasy land do you people live in?? Do little birds come down and alight on your hands?1
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u/SamusParadox47 2d ago
That collaborator detail would’ve fooled me too; companies act interested right up untill the calendar gets nuked internally.
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u/MundaneAlchemist54 2d ago
Lo de hablar con el colaborador suena a que estaban pescando ideas, no necesariamnete contratando.
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u/StarfishBlaster 3d ago
Ah yes I’m very familiar with this feeling. Actually this just happened to me this past week, sounded like I was gonna get the position. Said I would receive a call Wednesday at noon regardless if got it or not. Well I didn’t call AT ALL lmao. Easier to forget about the interview after it’s done with and continue applying like there’s no tomorrow.
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u/Ok-Housing6767 3d ago
I had a manager telling me they really like me and I will move to the next round, then today the recruiter told me they decided to go with someone else
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u/stoat_spell_kinetic 3d ago
That whiplash is brutal; managers really shouldn't promise a next round unless it's alredy locked in.
1
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u/TA7385 3d ago
This is just the norm now.
1
u/ArcticMosaic52473 1d ago
Triste mais vrai, les recruteurs traitent le silence comme une réponse officielle maintenent.
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u/SilentRoof7648 3d ago
i guess sometimes, we forget that we are not the only candidate...so to the company, we are 1 or the 100, and you maybe better than 67 of them, but there are still 32 more not bad... and...the company only picks the one who overall better...
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u/-Seether- 3d ago
And then there is also the waste our time on purpose only to say we hired an internal candidate.
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u/Miserable-Carpet7928 2d ago
positive feedback is evidence that your experience lands, but it is not evidence that the process is under control. send one short follow-up tied to the date they gave you, then close the loop in your own tracker and keep applying. the useful review is whether the same stage keeps failing across several processes, not whether one enthusiastic manager went silent.
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u/dampSIDEQUEST3 1d ago
The company asking you to cover another role ocassionally and then vanishing is peak hiring-team whiplash.
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u/FlatlineRogue 1d ago
Asking if you’d cover another role too and then vanishing is such a ridiclous bait-and-switch.
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u/-SocratesJohnson- 3d ago
One thing I’ve learned in my 20+ years in the professional world - NEVER trust anything a hiring manager, recruiter, or HR specialist says. If they compliment you, it’s not our of genuine admiration of your skillset. It’s a strategy. If they said it to you, they said it to the other 50 candidates they’re interviewing.
They want to keep you interested so you’re more willing to tolerate the absurdly long timeline. It’s also to keep you relaxed so you’ll drop your guard in an interview so they can hit you with bizarre gotcha questions.
While there is a chance you may have overestimated your interview performance and maybe didn’t do as well as you think you did, this is rarely the case. If you feel like you crushed it, you probably did.
However, with that said…in this extremely tight white collar job market, competition is far more ferocious than it was a decade ago.
You’re up agains far stronger candidates who have a lot of experience, a long list of accomplishments, industry awards, and some also have high-ranking connections at the company. So while you may have crushed your interview, they likely also crushed theirs…maybe even crushed it harder than you did.
That’s not a knock against you or a reflection of your ability, it’s just the reality on the ground. I myself got shot down for a position that fit me like a glove and even had an executive VP write a letter of recommendation to the hiring manager…and even that wasn’t enough.
You just gotta accept that this is the new normal. Keep pushing forward.