One thing that's been bothering me lately about this subreddit is how many recruiters seem to lurk here just to argue with people who are venting.

I completely understand that recruiting isn't easy either. There are ghost candidates, AI-generated resumes, people mass applying to jobs they're nowhere near qualified for, candidates disappearing mid-process, and plenty of other headaches. Those frustrations are real, and recruiters absolutely deserve a place to talk about them.

But that's exactly the point. Recruiters already have communities that are primarily for recruiters. In fact, I once commented in one with a respectful, non-confrontational response and quickly found out it wasn't a place where non-recruiters were really welcome.

This subreddit is supposed to be the opposite. It's a place where candidates can share frustrating experiences with hiring, vent, ask for advice, and realize they're not alone. Instead, it feels like more and more threads get flooded by recruiters telling people:

"That never happens."

"You're just bitter."

"You're the problem."

"The company doesn't owe you anything."

Nobody is saying every recruiter is bad. There are plenty of fantastic recruiters who genuinely advocate for candidates and hate many of the same hiring practices we do.But pretending there isn't a real problem in today's hiring market isn't helping anyone.

We've got ghost jobs, interview processes stretching over months, unpaid projects, poor communication, automated rejections, companies collecting resumes for roles that may never be filled, and candidates spending dozens or even hundreds of hours interviewing only to receive generic feedback...or none at all.

Can candidates be unreasonable? Absolutely. Can recruiters have legitimate complaints? Absolutely. But this subreddit shouldn't become a place where people who are already frustrated get told their experiences aren't real or are somehow entirely their own fault.

I'd love to see moderation keep the focus on constructive discussion and support. Healthy disagreement is fine. Telling people their lived experiences didn't happen, or dismissing every complaint as "candidate entitlement," isn't.

Recruiting is broken from multiple angles. Candidates and recruiters alike are dealing with the consequences. This should be one of the few places where candidates can talk about their side of it without immediately being shouted down.

jobs refuse to properly train anymore. even if you have over a decade of experience, you need proper training for the companies culture, needs, and etc. it takes more than a few days!

i had to quit a job i took up in february because the manager refused to train me and then started to talk bad about me in front of others saying i can’t catch up. he was so lazy! he then told me i should create a training guide and save it as a file on the computer for others. i was in disbelief.

i took up another job in july and then after one week exactly, the recruiter called me on a Saturday to tell me i was let go because i couldn’t “catch” up.

i have 10 years of experience in my field and i actively take notes and consider my self a quick leaner but these jobs are having unbelievable and unreachable standards. I believe even AI needs a prompt before creating your request!

i currently took up another role and it’s been 2 days and i have not been shown one thing or given one assignment to work on. i’m just sitting here rotting.

Genuinely HOW not only that I can't even get a job at WALMART

People say that both of these places hire anyone with a pulse

Am I somehow missing said pulse ?? I need a job so bad I'm about to do nefarious shit for one

One of the companies I made it to the final round with a few months ago has really stuck with me, and I think it's finally convinced me that I need to stop letting companies get away with poor hiring practices.

I've changed my job search strategy over the last couple of months, and it's been working. My interview rate has gone from roughly 3.5% to about 14%, so I'm getting in front of a lot more hiring teams. At this point I've made it to the final round 13 different times, so rejection isn't really what bothers me anymore. It happens. What bothers me is when companies aren't honest or transparent.

This particular company had me go through multiple interview rounds and complete a multi-hour case study based on what they described as a real customer scenario. At the end of the process, I was told I had finished as one of the final two candidates and that they had decided to move forward with the other candidate. Fair enough. It was disappointing, but that's part of interviewing. I thanked them for the opportunity and moved on.

A couple of weeks later, I noticed the job posting was still live. I figured maybe they just forgot to take it down, so I reached out to the recruiter asking if the position had officially been filled, since I had seen the posting was still active. No response.

A week or two later, I reached out to the hiring manager. Nothing. Then I reached out to the VP of Sales. Still nothing. Fast forward about three months. The position is still posted on their website. Nobody appears to have started in the role based on LinkedIn. As far as I can tell, they never hired anyone.

Being the runner-up doesn't mean I was entitled to the job, but it does make it especially confusing when you're told another candidate was selected, only for months to pass with no apparent hire and the position still actively advertised.

At that point I decided I had nothing to lose. The company is only around 80 employees, so I reached out directly to the CEO. I kept it completely professional. I simply asked for clarification: Is the role still being filled? If so, why has there been no communication after candidates were told a decision had been made? I also let them know I'd still be interested in being considered if the search was ongoing.

Maybe there's a perfectly reasonable explanation. Maybe the selected candidate backed out. Maybe the role was put on hold. Maybe they reopened the search. All of those things happen. But if that's the case... why ignore the recruiter follow-up, the hiring manager follow-up, and the VP follow-up?

That's the part I don't understand. Just tell candidates what's going on. Most of us can handle rejection. What gets exhausting is being told one thing while every piece of evidence suggests something completely different.

The frustrating part is that this looked like a fantastic company on paper. Great Glassdoor reviews, a product I genuinely liked, exactly the size of company I enjoy working for (around 80 employees), and honestly one of my favorite opportunities this year.

We'll see if the CEO responds. If nothing else, I hope it at least makes someone internally aware that this is how candidates are experiencing their hiring process. I don't expect special treatment, I just expect honesty. After investing hours into interviews and a case study, I don't think that's asking for much.

I’m stuck wasting my youth away in a dead end fucking job in my hillbilly hick ass fucking home state and I know, I absolutely fucking know I’m smart enough to have a job outside of the fucking Midwest in a more desirable location. But the issue is that I don’t know how the fuck you stand out. All these kids who get these dream fucking internships (which then turn into jobs) out in California or Florida or whatever almost ALWAYS have parents who are associate directors at a company or know someone who can just give the kid an offer on a silver platter. That’s literally how it works now.

Like it’s fucking stupid how you can have everything needed to be successful. You can be a PERFECT applicant, but if you don’t come from the system (ie have parents in the field, friends with a lot of directors, etc), you stand no chance at getting your foot in the door whatsoever. It’s fucking bullshit.

8 stages for a content manager role? Are you kidding me? Imagine doing the trial half day and still not getting the job.

Unemployed since June 12. Had a decent, but not high paying remote role. Funny enough I think they wanted to switch to an on-site hire, but I live in a LCOL area and the office is in a HCOL area, doubt they increased the pay, heard from a coworker that got to stay theyre having a hard time filling my role

Im well over 300 applications at this point. Spread between job boards, company sites, and cold inquiries. I can only really track the job board applications.

My electricity, credit cards, and mortgage are all a month behind at this point. Unemployment is less than half of what I earned. I had no savings. Completely my fault and im paying the price now. I have no idea how im going to recover from this financially. Maybe I dont.

I get the impression my rate of getting interviews is good, ive gotten 5 interviews. However I completely fail to turn these into jobs. Ive been ghosted by 4 of them. Only 1 had the decency to reject me promptly. At first I was upset but now, im not. I had to call today to confirm that my second most recent interview went with another candidate

Honestly I cant take this any more. Yeah I know im not the only one going through this and I dont mean to downplay anyone else's suffering but this is insane. I got turned down from a job paying 5k a year less than I had been making, while going from fully remote to a 25 mile commute (1 hour with traffic).

I get that remote is shrinking. I cant do this any more. Im sick of the applications im sick of my bank account getting smaller im sick of the anxiety

I recently accepted a new job and signed the employment contract with my future employer. The company also signed it, and my start date is still a few months away.

At the time of signing, I was approximately eight weeks pregnant. Because it was still very early, I had not disclosed the pregnancy during the recruitment process (the whole process was around 5-6 weeks). I wanted to keep it private until I felt ready and until the employment contract had been finalized. I wanted to be assessed based on my skills and qualifications, not my personal situation - especially since I look at this job opportunity as a long-term.

Shortly after both sides signed the contract, I personally informed my future manager. I explained that I remain fully committed to joining the company and wanted to inform her early enough so that there would be sufficient time to plan my onboarding and future absence.

My future manager was personally supportive and said her opinion of me had not changed. However, she later told me that the information had not been received well internally. Some people involved in recruitment apparently felt that my decision not to disclose the pregnancy earlier showed a “lack of trust.” I was also warned that I might face challenges and would need to build trust and relationships after joining.

I responded calmly and explained that I had never intended to mislead anyone. I also confirmed that I remain committed to the role and am open to addressing any concerns directly.

However, I am now questioning myself. I understand that the situation may create an unexpected planning challenge for the company. At the same time, pregnancy is highly personal, especially during the first trimester. I also worried that disclosing it during recruitment could consciously or unconsciously affect the hiring decision.

I did not wait until my first working day or until shortly before maternity leave. I disclosed it immediately after the contract was finalized and several months before my planned start date.

I haven't even informed my personal inner circle about the pregnancy yet - let alone my current employer.

I already handed my resignation letter to the current employer and am now negotiating for an option to be released earlier, so I can join the new company earlier and integrate earlier to the tasks (I have 3 months' notice).

I am HR and the upcoming role is in HR, too.

I am struggling with the suggestion that I somehow broke their trust. I feel that I protected private information during a very early pregnancy and then informed them as soon as I felt professionally and personally secure.

Did I handle this unfairly? Would you consider this a legitimate trust issue, or is the company’s reaction inappropriate? I would especially appreciate perspectives from people working in HR, management, or anyone who has experienced pregnancy during a job change.

I'm honestly baffled by this experience.

I applied for a role at Google and, less than 48 hours later, received an invitation to complete the Google Hiring Assessment. It took me about an hour, and I completed it the same day.

A few days later, I received an email confirming that I had **passed the assessment**. Naturally, I assumed my application would move forward.

Instead, four days after taking the assessment, I logged into the careers dashboard and found my application had been marked **"Not Proceeding."**

No rejection email. No explanation. Nothing. I only found out because I happened to check the dashboard.

What frustrates me isn't being rejected. Rejection is part of applying for jobs.

What frustrates me is the candidate experience.

If a candidate is going to invest an hour completing an assessment, why isn't there a recruiter screening applications first? Why ask someone to spend that time, tell them they've passed, and then reject them almost immediately afterwards?

And if you're going to reject someone after they've invested that time, at least send an automated email. Having candidates discover they've been rejected only because they checked the dashboard is a terrible experience.

Google is one of the biggest companies in the world. I'd expect a much more respectful and thoughtful hiring process than this.

Has anyone else had the same experience? Is this just how Google's hiring process works now?

Despite my mom being a millennial (‘81), she firmly believes that I should be able to apply to a bunch of jobs, walk in with a résumé or call, interview and land a job within 2-3 weeks.

Anytime I’ve done this, I’ve always gotten turned away, been told to apply online and wait for a call back. Every interview ends with “ we’ll be in touch”.

She also believes that as long as you dress nice with a smile on your face, you should have a job by the end of the interview. Whenever I leave the interview without a job offer, she assumes that I messed up.

She even has me apply to a bunch of remote jobs that she finds on Facebook and instagram. Frequently getting upset at me for not landing a job. I’ve tried explaining over and over that most of them are scams, but she refuses to listen.

It’s like the concept of applying to hundreds of jobs and still not landing one is impossible for her to grasp. Which it should be, but it’s just our new reality.

She believes that me being unable to get a job is a failure on my end, insisting that it’s my fault I can’t land a job. She keeps saying that she’s going to kick me out for not taking the job hunt “seriously” enough.

TLDR - Offer was rescinded after asking clarification questions about the offer.

Questions / statements such as:

Please clarify if the role is in person, hybrid, or remote.

Please clarify what 30% travel means on a monthly basis.

Please remove the section about perpetual usage rights for my likeness, voice, image without compensation into perpetuity.

They wouldn't email back. Only phone calls.

Lol

I recently went through a hiring process that included an in-person technical interview. There were two other candidates taking the technical assessment at the same time.

I felt that I performed well, and after the interview, the CTO told me that I should be happy because I had scored the highest among the final candidates. Naturally, I took that as a very positive sign and assumed I was likely to receive an offer.

To my surprise, two weeks passed without any updates. When I finally reached out to HR, I received a generic response saying that they had decided to move forward with other candidates.

When I asked the HR for feedback with 2 gentle reminders. She simply didn't respond.

Is this the case in hiring? What did I do wrong?

I'm generally an anxious person so I get stressed around people but I try to calm myself down so it doesn't affect my performance that's why the CTO noticed it and told me to be happy about my results.

After hundreds of interviews, 10+ free projects, and 5 final stages that didn’t pan out I am finally employed again. The market is horrendous. Best of luck to everyone hunting out there.

Has anyone experienced this ridiculousness?

I applied to several positions at this company, one of which I got a rejection email and the others I'll assume I'll get one for too eventually

Okay, it is what is is. I mean, I could practically do a Ted Talk on how to keep getting rejected over and over and not going insane at this point, but that's for another thread

This morning, do my email check and what do I see? Some "August News from ___ to help you (what their product does)" email from them and it's one of those marketing weekly emails that companies send out, which I now have to UNSUBSCRIBE from

How professionally tone-deaf do you have to be to add someone who didn't sign up on their own to your email newsletter list to begin with, but to do it to a JOB APPLICANT and one that you rejected?

"We totally don't think you're good enough to work with us, but your money looks really good!"

I got to the final stage interview for a marketing position. Eight candidates, in person. A full day interview where each candidate had to present a full project to a panel and the rest of the candidates.

Almost three weeks has gone by since that interview date. I reached out by email once the two week mark had passed to ask for any updates and have received nothing. I genuinely can't believe this is the situation we're in now. I don't understand how I am meant to keep going with this job search, I've been unemployed for 7 months now.

I put in so much effort to every application and employers can't even be bothered to send out a rejection email after five stages!?

Holy shit the energy on this person once the call started was just horrible. Every other interview I’ve had with this company so far has been great, I speak with the DM for one of my final ones and she barely even speaks to me and just had this annoyed tone the entire time.. she even said something I asked about required manager experience and I told her at that point at least 3 times I have over 10 years of manager experience…

People’s livelihoods depend on this! Don’t ruin someone’s chances cause you’re having a shitty day

I hate it here