Minutes after applying, I got an interview request from someone in talent acquisition. I scheduled the 30-minute Zoom call for a week and a half later. The call went well, and she told me they were planning to do second and third round interviews the following week and extend an offer at the end of that week. She requested some writing samples, which I sent over later that day (Monday). The next day, she responded to thank me for sending the samples and said she was meeting with the team on Thursday and would let me know about the next steps. After not hearing back from her for several days, I followed up on the next Wednesday. The Monday after that, she responded to say she would be out of the office that week and couldn't locate the samples I sent. She asked me to resend them and said she would pass them on to the hiring manager and follow up with her on Wednesday. So, two weeks after I sent the samples, she admitted she didn't see them and, therefore, couldn't have shown them to anyone. That alone was a huge waste of my time. Still, I resent the samples. She confirmed that she sent them to the hiring manager and said she expected to hear back from her by Wednesday. After a week and a half had passed with no update, I followed up again on the next Wednesday. The following Monday, she sent me a rejection email. The whole process was very confusing, disorganized, and frustrating. I had no reason to believe I wouldn't get a second interview, but she still strung me along for weeks just to cut me off.
