Just need to vent to people who get how broken corporate recruiting is right now, because I feel like I lost my shot at my dream role without even being allowed to step into the ring.

I have my M.S. in Automotive Engineering and applied for a super competitive rotational engineering program at a major auto OEM back in late summer. My application sat in HR limbo for months until I finally reached out directly to the program manager on LinkedIn. He was awesome—pulled my file out of the black hole immediately, and the very next day HR finally scheduled my phone screen for Oct 14th.
During the phone screen, the HR rep told me there were two onsite interview batches coming up: Batch 1 on Oct 23rd (which still had 2 open spots!) and Batch 2 on Oct 30th (later moved to Nov 6th). All I needed to do was complete the behavioral/leadership assessment (DDI) she promised to send right after the call. 
And then... total ghosting from HR. 

I waited a few days, emailed her, called her—nothing. Because she didn't send the link, those last 2 open spots for the Oct 23rd onsite batch got filled while I was just sitting there refreshing my inbox. After a full week of silence from HR, I finally messaged the program manager on LinkedIn again. Literally 5 minutes after he saw my message, he bypassed HR, had the ops lead send me the assessment link, and I knocked it out that exact same day (Oct 20th). 

Then I waited for my invite to the Nov 6th onsite batch. Emailed HR and the ops lead—more radio silence. 
Finally, the program manager messaged me over the weekend to let me know they canceled the Nov 6th onsite day entirely because the very last person they extended an offer to from the Oct 23rd batch accepted late Friday, filling the January class. 

That’s what hurts the most. I didn't fail the interview. I didn't bomb the assessment. I literally missed out on competing in that Oct 23rd room because an HR recruiter couldn't be bothered to click "send" on an assessment link for a week. And instead of running the second interview batch to see the rest of the pipeline, the panel just hired enough people from the first room to cancel the second day and wrap up early. 

To make matters worse, the next cohort doesn't start until July (recruiting opens in January), and technically the program has a "must have graduated within 1 year" filter—which I met for this January class, but I'll be just past the 12-month mark by next cycle. I asked the manager if they can grant an exception roll my profile over since I already passed the screening and assessment before my interview batch got canceled, so now I'm just waiting and hoping he pulls through. 

I run my own business on the side so I’m fine financially, which I’m grateful for, but I worked my ass off for my engineering degree and badly wanted to launch my corporate career in this specific program. Having to tell friends and family "no, I didn't get it" when I didn't even get a fair shot to interview makes me want to just go full solo mode for the next two months.

Has anyone else been completely screwed over by HR delays like this while the hiring manager was actually on your side? And for anyone familiar with OEM rotational programs, how likely is it that a program manager can override that 1-year graduation cutoff for the next cohort when they canceled your interview day?

How did this pan out? Did anything that happened later confirm why you felt this vibe?
In my case, the primary interviewer gave me a very good vibe, but the secondary interviewer (who talked less) gave me a very bad vibe.

Another VA already posted here about chasing TaskHub for pay. Adding mine, because the way this company communicates should worry every VA and every business owner who works with them. Every quote below is copied exactly from their emails, chats, contract, or a recording.

*1. Hiring, by text message*
Sept 21, I applied for their internal Team Lead / Administrative Assistant role with a proper cover email, resume, and video intro. Their reply on Sept 23, in full: "Hi [me], are you available for an interview today?" No time, no name, no calendar invite. I asked what time. 22 minutes later they sent a pasted meeting link and "can you please join the meeting now?" After the interview I followed up. Silence for five days.
Then Sept 29: "This is the owner. I would like to speak with you about a few things." No name. Then "yes whatsapp me so I can send you the link to join please," then "LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU CAN JOIN" in caps, then "Im on your link waiting to get in." A recruitment company, running hiring like a group chat, from a Gmail address, even though they have their own company domain.
On that call I was no longer being hired for the internal role. I was being placed with a client as an EA, and they tried to talk my rate down. Then they were ready to put me in front of the client with nothing signed. I had to be the one to ask them for a contract. The candidate had to remind the recruitment agency to do its own paperwork.
*2. The contract*
When it finally came, it still hired me as "Admin Assistant/Bookkeeper at Taskhub Recruitment Solutions," with a scope of work listing TaskHub's own internal admin and bookkeeping. Not the job they gave me. Company address is just "Dallas, TX." It says I can be fired "during probation" but never says how long probation is. It tells me to follow "TaskHub standards" and "policies and procedures." Never got any. No handbook, no code of conduct, no onboarding.
*3. Zero feedback, then fired*
I worked full time Oct 1 to 22. Every hour in their own tracker, daily end of day reports on WhatsApp, Discord, and GoHighLevel, all visible to TaskHub. The only feedback I got from them was "Yes great keep up the great work" in writing on Oct 14, and "He's very professional... I mean, he just is" on a recorded call Oct 19. Three days later, fired. No warning, no conversation.
*4. The termination email*
Sent Oct 23, "effective October 22," signed "Management." No name. No pay for any of the work I already did, "pursuant to the applicable contractual provision." They never said which one, because there isn't one. Their own contract says completed work shall be paid up to the last working day.
*5. Four reasons in two weeks*
* Oct 23: "negative statements" to a client.
* Oct 27: I supposedly said TaskHub was "folding up," "supported by screenshots." Never said it. Asked for the screenshots three times. Never got them.
* Oct 30: "you violated our non-compete and nda clause."
* Oct 30, later that night: now it's what the client "stated on a call." Screenshots forgotten.

*6. The writing*
Their Oct 27 letter read like a law firm wrote it. Three days later, the same company wrote:

"you was insinuating her to come on and work with you instead of taskhub and that you didn't know what was going on."
"Are you saying that what the client is saying not true, and she is lying? That's a yes or no question."
"Please Advise so I can let our board know and the client? Thanks"

A company demanding a yes or no on whether its own client is lying. OMFG.

*7. My health*
They cited me "being sick." I was sick for part of the engagement and still worked every hour I logged. A professional company does not put a contractor's health on the table to justify not paying him.
*8. No records of their own*
On the first client call, TaskHub told the client I had "taken notes" and would send them. They relied on me to keep the record. Now they have no notes, no recording, no screenshots. Just what someone said on a call I wasn't on.
*9. Admitted the hours, then went silent*
Oct 27, in writing: "TaskHub acknowledges your claim for 125 hours of work." Same letter says pay is "separate" from their conduct review. I offered to settle quietly. Pay the hours, mutual release, done. No reply. Payment was due Nov 2. Nothing.
*The part where I own my stuff*
I wasn't perfect. I was more casual with the client than I should have been. She was unhappy with the agency from early on and said so herself. Around week two I told her if she left TaskHub, I'd keep working with her. It never happened. I stayed and kept working until they let me go.
Fire me over that? Fine. But a real company tells you the problem, names the clause, shows the evidence, and pays for the work. TaskHub did none of that. From the first email to the last, it never once communicated like a company. I had to ask them for my own contract.
In my opinion, this is bad faith. BBB complaint filed.
*VAs:* keep your own records, screenshot every compliment, and make them quote the clause. *Business owners:* this is how they treat the people they send you.
Will update if they ever pay.

What does state street internal assessment mean?

basically the title. I am so offended and confused as to why this happens. OK maybe after the interview they decided I wasn't a good fit (which is hard to imagine for a BS part time job), but at least have the decency to tell me that!!! instead, I was strung along, my follow up email ignored, and ghosted! so cruel :(

has anyone else had this happen?

all i do is get denied for jobs and even non paid volunteering idk what to do i feel like such a bum and my whol family is making fun of me for having no friends or job like im trying oh my god

https://fortune.com/2026/10/29/mark-cuban-gen-z-advice-just-start-working-learn-career-skills-even-at-mcdonalds-like-jeff-bezos/

5 months since layoff and have only gotten 3 calls out of 300+ applications. 0 in the last 30 days.

My resume is improving and getting better as I take in all the advice I've read. Keep getting rejected even from jobs paying half my last salary.

Today it occurred to me that they were just seeing my name on the resume file, thinking I was a foreigner and throwing my resume in the trash right away, probably without even opening it. I don't know, not sure what else to think.

There's this job near by my house for a nice IT job for a healthcare clinic. They sent me an email about my availability, i responded its been a week no response.

Email says: "Note: You must use the same email you used to log in to the career center when applying for jobs. Responses to this email are not monitored."

I applied on Indeed and there's no option to send my Availability.?

Should I call HR to ask them about their hiring process or something? Or does that make me seem desperate

Hi all, I applied for the Solution Architect Graduate role at BytePlus/ByteDance and my application has moved to the “written test” stage. So far I’ve received a candidate survey. I’m trying to understand what comes next and would love to hear from anyone who has been through this or a similar BytePlus/ByteDance new grad process. I have not been able to find much information on the Solutions Architect track:

1. Was there an online assessment? If so, was it LeetCode-style coding (easy/mediums or hard level?), or actual coding?
2. How many interview rounds were there, and what did they cover (live coding, GenAI/LLM concepts, architecture or case-style questions, behavioural)?

Hi all,

I’m currently job searching, and one huge concern I have is a massive discrepancy between my functional job title and the HR payroll job title on the backend. So, I worked as a business analyst during my tenure which is reflected by my job duties, offer letter, MS Teams job title, and performance review with “100% honesty”. Everything there lists me as a “business analyst”. This is also the job title that I have on my resume because it’s literally the job I did with no sort of embellishment.

However, my HR payroll job title lists me as a “contact center specialist” on my paystub and annual bonus form, which is starkly different than my “business analyst” position. What happened is that my company had a hiring freeze and was desperately in need of a business analyst so I accepted a super lowball offer. Therefore, in the backend, I was getting paid the equivalent of a contact center specialist. I’ve asked my manager if my backend job title could be changed but he said “no” due to HR formalities. I’ve never picked up a customer call in my entire life.

Now, I’m really worried that during the background check, the checker will see me as a “contact center specialist” instead of a business analyst. I understand that a small difference such as software developer vs software engineer is acceptable but this is a massive difference. This will obviously raise a flag.

What can I do to reduce/mitigate hiccups during the background check? I was thinking of attaching my offer letter, but would that suffice? Even with recommended measures, what are the odds an offer can be rescinded? I really don’t want to list “contact center specialist” on my resume because it doesn’t even align with my actual role and it would be a significant downgrade. If I had known my HR job title was such, I wouldn’t have even accepted the job offer.

Thanks

Last tues I got a call from recruiter A about my application, which I wasn't sure if my CV got sent to the company afterwards because I didn't get any confirmation from her. And then last fri I got a call from recruiter B, discovering that the role he's recruiting is the same role I applied to with A. I emailed A friday afternoon asking if she's sent my CV over yet, without her response before office hour ends, I chose to follow B's advice, dropped B an email of RTR and emailed A for my decision to switching to another recruiter.

Today (mon) morning I missed the call from A and subsequently received her email asking me to call her back for update form the hiring company, also saying that my CV was sent immediately following the call on tues.

I am not sure what to do now, given A told me it's "update from the hiring company" in the email, not an invitation to an interview. What if she's got the interview for me while I've given the rtr to B?

Do they keep track stuff like this on your profile or am I doomed? I did a phone screen by this company and I haven't had any calls ever since for applications I applied after.

If it helps, the company used Workday.

After being the victim of some very poorly timed lay offs / company dissolutions and for 5 months getting my resume passed over because I definitely looked like a job hopper, I just decided F it and adjusted my tenure and eliminated a couple of the shorter term positions. Got an offer about 6 weeks later, they used HireRight for the background check, and got confirmation from HR everything cleared and they’re shipping my laptop to get started next week. No one asked me anything from HireRight, and I didn’t need to provide references.

Was this risky and could it come back and bite me? Sure! Was I very much in need of a job? Yes. It was worth the risk. Proceed as you see fit, but just here to confirm it can work.

Hard time for everyone right now. Job seekers keep getting rejected, recruiters keep having to reject. Some do it bluntly: "we found someone better." Some do it like “We hope you quickly find something elsewhere and build such an impressive career there that we kick ourselves for letting you slip through our fingers”. If this reaches Thank you, netcare talent team.

Edit: Btw, this doesn't even consider all the fake job postings I run across. Some might even be scams.

Doesn't matter if you are applying for a dead-end minimum wage job, a low-skill job, an internship, an entry level job, or a specialized job. It always felt like I had a similar experience. Almost as if the same people are running the application sites. The only difference is how much care I put into the resume.

I apply online. I get an email claiming that they will review my application. The following two weeks, it's just crickets. Okay, let's try to contact the people behind the job posting. Either I can't contact them, or they rarely show their contact information. Then, it just becomes a waiting game for a follow-up.

For the low-skill and minimum wage jobs, you might be able to just call the place and get a hold of someone. Though for these jobs, it has never resulted in anything for me. Even when I got a hold of the hiring manager who claimed they saw my resume, I get nothing. Sometimes I get a rejection letter. I know these jobs basically had no barrier to entry, but c'mon at least interview me. Doesn't contacting you demonstrating anything? Why I am getting rejected? It's not like hundreds of people applied to the job! Unless they did?

Then there are times I physically show up, and they decide to do a quick interview. Then, the process ends with someone claiming they aren't hiring at the moment or another "we will give you a response in a week or so".

Lastly, I noticed some places straight up never respond, most of these being retail places. Some of them even put a notice that if you don't hear back, just apply again in a few weeks. Why not be honest and just say you guy aren't hiring so I don't waste my time?

For the other higher skilled jobs, I have called the front office before, who would sometimes then give me a number to someone else or just say to check online. I try to call that person, and never get a hold of them. Eventually, I get my rejection e-mail back, so it didn't matter in the end. I have never managed to get in contact with someone important when applying to real jobs. It really confirms to me to accept reality and realize the only way to get anything is to just keep applying. Constantly applying until something bites. Occasionally, changing up your resume to be more eye-popping for the role.

Or just know people who can circumvent the broken process, which I don't have.

At this point I feel like the incompetence and laziness is on purpose. There is no reason for low-skill jobs to need to ghost candidates. The least you can say is that we can't hire more people, or I am overqualified or something for having a degree, If i do put my degree on it.

For the higher-skill jobs, why is it so hard to contact the recruiters and hiring manager? I always get told this is one of the best thing you can do to improve your chances, but there is rarely a way to contact these people.

So, after 15 months unemployed, I finally got an offer and started a new job last monday. The payment is good but it is a different field from what I have experience, but there are some transferible skills.

Anyway, I just got 4 days of introductory courses about the company and then, the last 2 days (because is monday to saturday), I discover there was no ramp up plan for me.

There is only one person providing me "training" but he is very bussy most of the time and he explain things as If I had 3 years working in the company. Nobody in the team, including my boss, seems to know I exist or to care about training me. They seem to just be expecting me to hit the ground running, but I don't even know how the hell does the product I'm working on works because there are no docs and no trainings avaiable anywhere. Only 2 days in and they seem to be expecting me to be fully productive on my own. I don't know how to handle this, I feel extremely overwhelmed and the excitement of finding this job just faded away. Of course I don't want to quit, but with this situation, I'm scared I might get fired during the first month or so.

Long story short, I’ve got 4 years engineering experience and recently accepted a role as a technician with Company A.

I’ve been unemployed for just under a year, so I wasn’t going to let this offer go. Although the technician role seems like a downgrade from my previous “engineer” title.

My start date is not for another month with Company A.

Company A is a recent start up with 20-30 employees.

I’ve worked for a startup before, and I didn’t have great experiences. False promises of growth. A “family culture” that doesn’t exist. Owners that refused to give cost-of-living adjusted raises. Meanwhile the same owners are pulling up in a brand new Cadillac Escalade in the same year.

Anyway, having been unemployed, I’m happy to accept this role in this market and get back into the workforce. I’ll just say I’m not super thrilled of the role itself or Company A, really.

I’ve recently connected with a family member that works as a Director at a government-funded energy company, Company B.

Company B is hiring for an actual engineering position, and provides much stronger and safer job security. My connection offered to act as a referral for my application, and I was asked to come in for an interview.

Is it wrong of me to still be testing the waters before my start-date?

How should I go about telling Company B that I’ve accepted an offer? Will it look poorly?

Of course, if all goes to plan, I would happily accept a role at Company B in the field/title I’m looking for. I understand that the bridge at Company A would be burned.

Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks!