I applied and then contacted by HR via email to schedule time to meet with a company that is meant to screen through applicant resumes and confirm their experiences. A bit of an irregular and unnecessary step in the process that I haven’t seen during my job hunt. After that, I met with 3 different people: the hiring manager, her direct report, and another scientist from a different function. After the interviews were completed, it was radio silence. I followed up with the recruiter twice with no response. I finally received a rejection email 5 months after the interviews. I learned an internal candidate was hired in early 2022. Overall, this was unexpected from Hershey. If they want to have talent maintain their interest in the company and reapply for future roles, they should reconsider behavior like this. I will never apply to a role with this company again based on their lack of professionalism. It was a complete waste of my time and I won’t be doing this again.