I interviewed for an Account Specialist position (Financial Services). The process started with less than 24 hours' notice, was contacted on a Monday for a Tuesday 10am interview. Tight, but manageable, and the interview itself went well.
Then: 3.5 weeks of complete silence. Two polite follow-up emails went unanswered. Eventually a different recruiter, not the one handling my recruitment reached out to schedule a second interview. That conversation was positive, the recruiter spoke as though onboarding was the next step.
Another week and a half later, I was told the role went to an internal candidate. In the same email, they offered me a similar role in their Energy & Natural Resources practice and asked if I was interested. I confirmed I was. Then: another 3.5 weeks of silence, ending in a rejection email for that role, a position they had offered me and never interviewed me for.
To be fair: everyone I spoke with was pleasant, but roughly 10 weeks, two interviews, ignored follow-ups, handoffs between recruiters, and a rejection for a role they themselves proposed is not the candidate experience I expected from a Big Four firm. Communication is the bare minimum, and it was consistently absent.
Advice to management: If you dangle a role to a candidate, follow through with a process or don't offer it.