Ghosted after 4 interviews

J

jane_

New member
Ghosted after 4 interviews

Bizarre? Yes. Rude? Yes. Inexcusable? Absolutely.

I have been interviewing with a Series B startup for 7 or so weeks. It started with two 30 minute interviews, then a 2.5 hour assessment, then a 4 hour interview in person.

I know I aced them all. During the in person interviews I met at least 10 team members and created a rapport with all of them. I was calm and knowledgeable and confident.

The company said they’d get back to me early the next week. Thursday rolled around and I reached out- haven’t heard a word.

It’s now been 1.5 weeks and I’m fucking angry.

This is not just bad behavior, it’s abusive. They wasted my time and don’t have the decency to tell me anything?

What can I do? I feel so burned.
 
@jane_ I suggest you to move on immediately.. According to your post, I believe that you are overqualified for them also. Wish you good luck with your job hunting. 😃👍
 
@jane_ All I can add is that startups can be quite chaotic, and it might have just been dropped out of poor organization rather than any kind of malice.

I was toward the top of a startup several years ago, and the one person who was organizing all the logistics left, with only a couple days' notice - her entire workload just sat there. I flew in from abroad to find that no one had arranged any kind of transpo for me, and the hotel booking had a lot of loose ends. I started asking about other business, and it was all just hanging - because everyone else was working 15h+/day and the cofounders didn't think that an office mgr was that necessary.
 
@ilovejack3213 OP, please listen to hipcheek23. Startups are chaotic, Series B startups especially so. I’ve been an early employee at 3 different ones, 1 Series B and 2 Series C. I guarantee you that almost everyone is working their tail off and reacting to constantly changing priorities. It could be 1) code release date, 2) a board request, 3) preparing for a C-Round, 4) recovering from the loss of a critical role 5) saving a prospect or all of the above. While hiring is critical, it still may be overshadowed by events that impact the immediate future of the company.

While I’m a person who thrives in chaos (I like solving big problems when there are no rules and love having a disproportionate impact on a company), you may be in a different place in life. If you want this job, email the hiring manager expressing your excitement about the opportunity and ask where you stand. If an email goes unanswered follow-up with a phone call. Don’t express your annoyance. I’ve hired >75 people across 3 different startups and not once intentionally ghosted anyone. Intentionally is the operative word. If I neglected a candidate it was because I was eyeballs deep in an all-hands situation. Anytime a prospect employee was politely persistent only made me like them more.

Good luck!
 
@ilovejack3213 Hi OP, this is the best answer. Don’t take it personally. In fact, remain cordial and continue to enthusiastically engage with the company (assuming you like their product and their vision and etc). Bc startups are indeed very chaotic. You don’t really get a resemblance of a well thought out process (heck, even big tech sucks at this times) at series B. And even later stages in pre ipo, bc the ramp up is even steeper, chaos continues.
 
@rkenoke When it was just 10 people, it was fun chaos, and mistake felt like they'd just wash behind us as we built more. But once the cofounders were getting calls from Thiel and Iger, the poor decisions really started to make a difference.
 
@ilovejack3213
When it was just 10 people, it was fun chaos, and mistake felt like they'd just wash behind us as we built more.
Click to expand...

Yeaup! That's such a fun time. You really see the old saw "Growth solves all problems." at its peak.

But once the cofounders were getting calls from Thiel and Iger, the poor decisions really started to make a difference.
Click to expand...

Ah, distraction. The death of so many companies. I was a co-founder of a company that got to series B before I got kicked out (long story), and wow do I relate. Distraction is real as all hell (I was the distracted one) and it can wreck a company.
 
@rkenoke For my guys it was the hubris. They weren't world-beaters, but they convinced themselves they were. They thought a small room of 30-somethings could outsmart the entire world. A tale as old as time...
 
@theeddyswimmer Seconded. Absolute waste of time, especially since it doesn't involve a time investment on their side like an interview. And they can be poorly scoped as well, taking up much more time than as indicated.
 
@theeddyswimmer This and when I'm on the other side I've never found them to be that useful anyway.

They're really just a way for the people doing the hiring to say they did something.
 
@jane_ I always follow-up after a week of not hearing anything. Almost always it means you didn't get it but the closure matter. Note that some companies, even big corporations, will ghost you even if you write to them. Still, most don't.
 
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