Influential interview questions

A recruiter reached out to me to set up an interview. I spoke with her, at the end of our discussion, she said I could expect to hear back either way in just a couple of days. Weeks later, it's clear that I've been ghosted. It's always the companies that go on and on about wanting a recruiter who can support a great candidate experience, who end up ghosting.

The process moved relatively fast and seamlessly at first. A recruiter reached out to me, and a week later I interviewed with a creator manager. They were nice and genuinely interested in what I had to say and even said that they hope to see me around. They mentioned they were not the hiring manager and that I would hear back from HR. After a few days of not hearing back, I followed up with HR and immediately got a response to move on to the next round with an SVP at the company. The interview was scheduled right before the holiday, which I found a little strange, but I went along with it because I was very interested in the opportunity. The interview with the SVP went well, or so I thought, though they did seem a bit checked out throughout. They also noted they were not the hiring manager and that the next step would be to interview with them. That felt like a red flag. What do you mean I’m two interviews in and still haven’t met the person who is actually doing the hiring and who I’d be working with day to day? Because it was so close to the holidays, I was told I’d hear back in the new year. Fast forward three weeks into January, and it’s absolute radio silence. I followed up twice with HR. Nothing. I’ve never been ghosted that late in the interview process before. It’s honestly kind of wild. Ghosting in 2026 is insane. Yes, unfortunately due to the nature of the economy, employers have the upper hand right now, but ignoring candidates who’ve made it this far is a choice. A deliberate one. This level of disorganization and basic lack of respect signals that something internally is not running as smoothly as they’d like to believe. My advice to them? Get organized. Look inward. At minimum, send automated rejections to candidates who aren’t moving forward. There are obvious growing pains from the Publicis x Influential x Captiv8 merger, and it doesn’t seem like HR has the bandwidth to keep up. Everyone I spoke with sounded stretched thin and stressed. Bottom line: like many other candidates have said, this company ghosts. Proceed accordingly.