[abalone]

Can somebody explain this problem for the uninitiated? Is this just about not hearing back about the next step in the interview process or why you didn’t get an offer?

I mean I think it’s pretty clear why recruiters would keep their options open up until the last second and limit information sharing.

The way to respond to that is to create urgency by having multiple parallel interviews in the pipeline and letting them know your deadlines. This works like magic if you are even a moderately strong candidate. That will have about a infinitely greater effect than sending whiny anonymous emails.

[itronitron]

In my opinion to qualify as ghosting a) you need to have had some form of interview beyond the initial half-hour phone screen that went well so that b) the recruiter or hiring manager/person tells you that they are going to 'call you next week' or something similar so that the next action to take is clearly theirs, then c) you never hear from them again.

I've experienced this often enough that whenever I have an interview that goes exceptionally well then I joke with my wife that I'll probably never hear from them again (and that tends to be the case.)

[abalone]

Red flag for me is “next week”. That’s a really long space in between contacts. Ideally the whole interview marathon at multiple companies should be packed into a couple weeks so you can drive a bidding war so to speak.

If they know you are interviewing elsewhere then it should be closer to 2-3 days max contact gap. Tip: If you don’t hear back from A, maybe you’ll have an on-site scheduled with B, and then you can ping A with that info “for scheduling purposes” and trust me you will suddenly hear back if they are interested. Again, urgency is your friend here.

[itronitron]

yeah, I'm not going to play mind games with companies. I only apply to positions for which I am qualified and actually interested in having for at least two years. I don't do the 'multiple companies/competing offers' thing as I already know the value of my time and attention.

[abalone]

I’m not following your logic here. How does driving a bidding war constitute “mind games”? How does your own internal sense of value affect the offers you get? This is just Negotiation 101.