My recruiting experience at Signify was very disappointing. After five months of an ongoing recruitment process, I decided to withdraw my application. I applied for the role in June and went through the first round of interviews at the end of July. I was informed that I wouldn’t receive any feedback until early September due to the Madrid office’s holiday schedule. The second round of interviews took place on September 10th. After that, I didn't hear anything from the recruiting team until early October, when my final interview round was held. Following this, I received no updates. After three and then four weeks, I followed up with the recruiter, who informed me that the team was still interviewing, even though the position had already been removed from the website and an automated message indicated that the role had been filled. No one notified me or provided any updates. The recruiting process was unreasonably long, and as a candidate, it was exceptionally frustrating not to receive updates. Each time I followed up, I had to wait a week for a response. This lack of communication was demoralizing. As a candidate, I had been proactive, even reaching out to the hiring manager on LinkedIn before submitting my application to share why I believed I could be a good fit. I also voluntarily sent a proposal on how to improve social media presence, addressing the challenges we had discussed during the interview. Every candidate deserves feedback, but those who go the extra mile in the recruitment process especially deserve personalized responses. In addition, during one of the interviews, the hiring manager made a concerning comment, stating that the previous Social Media Manager had “failed.” It’s unprofessional for a hiring manager to speak negatively about a former employee. The position was re-advertised multiple times. I’m not sure if the role actually existed since it hadn’t been filled in over five months. If it did exist, it seems as though the hiring manager was seeking an ideal candidate who may not exist. Overall, the recruitment process was very poorly handled.