I was contacted by an internal recruiter on LinkedIN and we scheduled an initial phone screen. Usually when a recruiter reaches out with an opportunity it's pretty clear that s/he hasn't read my profile and/or doesn't understand what jobs I'd be suited for (i.e. positions waaaay above or below my experience level). That said, the Elite recruiter was different and the opportunity she presented sounded like a strong fit. After my phone call, I was put in touch with another internal recruiter who I was told would be handling the position from here on out. Weird, but okay. I then had a phone call with the second recruiter that was a little more in depth, but basically rehashed a lot of the information from my first call. She told me the next step would be an interview with the hiring manager and that she'd be sure to put us in touch. When two weeks went by and I hadn't heard anything, I reached out to see if I was still under consideration for the role. The recruiter emailed me a vague response apologizing for the delay and promising to check in on the process and let me know. I never heard from her again. I mean, I guess I can take a hint, but is this ghosting thing really still acceptable today - especially when the company initiated contact with the candidate? Unemployment rates are a lot lower than they used to be and the power dynamics are beginning to shift for employers. I still believe Elite SEM is a top-notch agency, but job candidates remember this sort of treatment, and we tell our friends! Company reputations no longer have immunity in this regard and the people who work for them should be held accountable. I know that recruiters are very busy juggling several hundred candidates for a myriad of positions in their day to day. But 99.9% of the time, ghosting should not be the first line of defense. Most candidates deserve a simple 1-2 line email to let them know that they will not be moving forward in the hiring process. Even one of those automated emails will suffice for most. It helps people who have invested their time to close the loop and not hold out for a non-existent opportunity. That's common courtesy. And to those recruiters who fear backlash and questioning from overly needy rejected candidates, I can assure you that it's better to make this a smooth process for the 90% of candidates that will have appropriate reactions to rejection vs. angering the majority of your applicant pool. After all, you can always ghost the other 10% 😉