The Zillow recruiter found my profile on LinkedIn and contacted me about a position at the company. I was open to the possibility of a job switch, so I agreed to a phone screen. After talking with the recruiter at length, a follow up phone screen was scheduled with the hiring manager.
When it was time to have the call, the hiring manager didn't call. I waited for 45 minutes, and then I let the recruiter know by email I had to some other other things to attend to. Two minutes later, the hiring manager called, but I was on another line and they left a voice mail. We rescheduled the call for a week later. Next time, the hiring manager called on time. The hiring manager asked a lot about my current role, which was appropriate. But then proceeded to grill me on Zillow's prospects and keys to their competitive advantage. Typically, a phone screen is just a sniff test. In my experience, the hardball questions don't get rolling until the all-day in-person interview loop. Needless to say I was unprepared for a case study analysis of the company. Lesson learned.
Anyway, the call was pleasant enough and I think I demonstrated an interest and ability to creatively tackle complicated business problems. But after the phone screen, I heard not a peep. Neither the hiring manager nor the recruiter bothered to respond back to inquiries since then. It's pretty easy to say, "we'll be in touch", or "we're going in a different direction", or "there was one thing that hiring manager wanted to clarify". Instead, I got crickets. The silent treatment was ironic since the company pursued me in the first place. In an boutique labor market like Seattle where everyone will eventually work with everyone else, seems to me that is pretty short-sighted recruiting.
