Even the selected candidate can get ghosted

Imagine that you have a long and rather successful career in a technical field, and are very knowledgeable and well respected in your profession, but you at a stage in your life where you need to pivot and move your career in a slightly different direction.

Then you see a vacancy from a very well-established organization for a position that is related to, but quite different from your chosen profession. Going that route would be outside of your area of expertise and comfort zone.

Luckily, and as if almost by design, over the last almost 10 years you’ve been taking several short courses from reputable educational institutions, in nontechnical subjects, to not only increase your general knowledge, but also to complement your technical skills with business knowledge.

You’ve been preparing for such an opportunity without even realizing it. So, you send in an application, hoping for the best.

Several weeks later you are called in for an interview. You go in feeling confident. You know that you are a strong candidate, with years of accomplishments under your belt, and a wealth of knowledge and skill that would be of great benefit to the organization. And you know how to sell yourself.

The interview begins, with you and two representatives from the organization, and right off the bat everyone seems relaxed and comfortable with each other. It feels less like an interview and more like three new friends having a chat and getting to know each other better. There are genuine smiles, jokes and laughter.

When they ask you about yourself you speak of your values and what drives you, and then describe how you’ve undertaken several courses to compliment your vast technical knowledge and skills with business acumen. You explain that this positions you to be able to understand client’s needs and communicate with them in their language, identity which technological solutions they require, and relay to them how the proposed solution will advance their business.

As you describe all this you see their eyes light up. Not only can you tell that they are impressed from their facial expressions and body language, but they tell you that directly.

As the interview winds down, you continue to joke and laugh with them while building a comfortable comradery. You can easily see yourself working with and getting along with them and you know they are impressed.

At the end of the interview you thank them very much for their time and for considering you, and they enthusiastically thank you for coming.

You walk out with your head held high. That was the best interview you’ve ever had (and you’ve had quite a few in your career), and you already know that the job is yours.

There might be other candidates with more technical knowledge or more business/sales experience, but you are the hybrid that has both. The bridge between technology and business understanding.

But you don’t want to be cocky, and want to seal the deal, so the following day you send an email thanking them for the opportunity and for considering you. And then you wait.

A few weeks later the call comes in. They tell you that YOU ARE THE SELECTED CANDIDATE. However, they need to do some internal restructuring before they can onboard you and will get back in touch with you very soon.

You’re perfectly ok with this. After all you’re experienced enough to know that the corporate world often moves slowly, and you’re a patient person. So you wait.

An entire month passes, and then they call you again and ask if you are still interested. You express that as long as the offer is real you are still interested. They say ok. They are still restructuring and should get back to you within a week.

And then…. Nothing. You never hear from them again.

Time passes, you put it out of your mind, and you explore other options and opportunities, including your own ventures, and various doors start opening up for you.

Eventually, you receive, and accept, an offer from another organization for a very senior role which is significantly more lucrative than the previous organization.

And then… Over a year after the original interview, you receive a generic email from the first organization’s HR system informing you that you were not selected for the role. So much time has passed that you need to cross check if the position the email is referring to is the same one you interviewed for.

And even though you’ve already moved on and are far better off, it drives home the fact that you can have the best interview of your life, and be the SELECTED CANDIDATE, and still be ghosted by corporations.