“Is this thing on?” The great joke in the hiring universe today: for a skilled candidate to carefully and thoughtfully apply for a posted position one is well qualified for, then to be contacted by a senior member of their talent acquisition team eagerly requesting an interview, only to be promptly snubbed by that same party before an interview could ever even occur. Is it possible to cruelly dangle more in front of a person? When the senior employee wrote to say he would ‘be thrilled to conduct an interview’ with me, I responded that afternoon to his invitation to interview. I was met with nothing. The unresponsive air continued, and following multiple attempts to resume contact, I heard nothing from this HR office until I wrote a letter to their board and executive leadership. Then—and only then—did I receive some stumbling words of regret and error from the individual who had both started the ball and dropped the ball. I can't say his response came across as heartfelt. It is one thing for something like this to occur with a small organization that hires infrequently and consists of staff having primary functions in other areas. But for treatment like this to occur with a fully formed HR department is disgraceful. Other reviews of ADL reflect a pattern of this behavior. As an organization, ADL has faced widespread and increasing criticism in recent years regarding its practices and focus. Considering how they treat talent, it’s not a big jump to believe such criticism has a very real basis.