Vrbo *seemed* to be a great company, with a great culture fit for me. I had a great interview, according to the recruiter (and how I felt, following the interview). I applied for a job in late May. The recruiter responded almost immediately, and I went through the entire interview process, which also consisted of an (unpaid) at-home assignment that took a few hours. I received another offer from another company simultaneously and let the recruiter know. He told me to keep in touch - that they were still interviewing other candidates. I ended up turning down the other offer, continuing to interview elsewhere, and I followed up with Vrbo, every week for 4 weeks. I didn't hear back on week 2, but on week 3, I followed up again and was told that I was "definitely still in the running for the role" and that a further update would be provided the following week. Great...or so I thought! When I didn't hear back the following week, I sent an email checking in and asking for an update. Again, no response! Since it had been 4 weeks, I had also requested letting me know if I was still being considered so that I could move on if I wasn't. It's been almost 7 weeks without any closure but my own. I feel very strung along and was given false hope. Telling me that I was still in the running and then ghosting me is very unprofessional! It's not that difficult to reply back and tell the candidate that they are not being chosen. Honesty and transparency are clearly in their not values, and Vrbo is no longer the company I wish to work for. Good luck out there! Advice to the recruitment team: Respond to your candidates, by keeping them in the loop and be honest!

A month after I applied for the role online, I received a phone call from the HR team in Spain saying that they were interested in conducting a phone interview with me and was I available that same day or the next? I was very keen so agreed to a phone interview the next morning before I left for work. The interviewer was on time and we had a good 30 minute phone interview where I was asked about my current role and about my previous experience. She asked for my salary expectations and when I told her, she confirmed that that was in the range of what they were offering. She also asked for my possible start date which was also in line for when they were looking to hire. She talked me through the next stages of the interview process and gave me detailed information on an exercise that they would set for me to complete as a test. It all sounded *very* positive and she told me that because the head office is in Austin the time difference meant that she wouldn't be able to get back to me until the day after next. I thought that sounded fast anyway so was happy with this. As promised, the day after the next, I received an email. It was a generic email that read as follows: We're thrilled that you're interested in HomeAway, and appreciate the opportunity to consider you for employment. We understand that job seeking is a time-consuming endeavor. We have reviewed your background and qualifications and find that we do not have an appropriate opportunity to discuss with you at this time. We will keep your resume in our database and may reach out to you in the future should another opportunity arise. To stay informed of future opportunities at HomeAway, please follow us on LinkedIn. Best wishes for continued success! The HomeAway Recruiting Team I was absolutely shocked. I had had two phone calls (and one email) from the same person in Spain and invested time and energy on this process. I could not believe that they would send me such a generic email with zero feedback. I am assuming that it came from the head office in Austin. I followed up via email with the person that I spoke to in Spain expressing my surprise and disappointment at such an impersonal response from a company that prides itself on company culture but never got a reply. If this is their approach to hiring, I consider myself lucky to have escaped a contract there. In my opinion, the way that a company treats potential employees says a lot about them. I believe that all applicants should be treated with courtesy and consideration but this is clearly not their ethos.