[vrutberg]

After I had worked as a software engineer for about 5-6 years, struggling with impostor syndrome during portions of that time, I decided to apply for a job at Google mostly just to see what would happen. Guess what happened? They ghosted me. Nothing. No 'thanks, but no'. Just nothing.

I remember that it I felt embarassed and was frankly a bit ashamed that I hadn't received a reply. It took a while before I realized that I had in fact gotten ghosted as well. I waited for a reply from them for weeks. My self esteem took a definite hit from that. This was about 5 years ago now, so I've since gotten over it - but it changed my perception of Google as an employer from a place I'd be lucky to work at, to a place that I would have a really hard time applying for a job at again.

[imglorp]

It's tough. You can't take it personally. Most likely if you have a good buzzword list you're worth a conversation at least.

Another data point: 30 years exp, I just finished a job search for remote s/w. Total time to sign was about 5 weeks.

* 10 cold applications, all with good fits and detailed covers and research: 1 cold no; 1 few interviews then a no; 8 ghosts after bot ack

* 1 internal referral: got to final talks

* A few external recruiter engagements: two final talks; accepted one of these; and a few ghosts

External recruiters can be a pain but they have one superpower: the ear of their client.

[vrutberg]

Yeah, no, I know. Google is a big company and my application probably got lost, overlooked or buried in a sea of applications. Still, I think it reflects poorly on a potential employer to ghost candidates.

[mobutu]

I think they dodged a bullet since you took it so personal.

[vrutberg]

No, I know it wasn’t anything personal. Google is a big company and my application probably got lost in a sea of applications. Still, I think it reflects poorly on a potential employer to ghost candidates.