A recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn in early February. Initially, there was a lot of fuss and attention from her. She told me it was an approximately three-step interview process with the company: the Talent Acquisition Manager, the Hiring Manager, and finally the CRO. She arranged an interview with the Talent Acquisition Manager, and it went very well. The TAM was excited and told me I was moving on to speak to the CRO next. Great news, right? Then silence. I followed up with the recruiter and was told "they've been swamped!" Then I got a strange questionnaire. It was full of stuff already covered in the screening interview, the TAM interview, and my resume. I responded thoroughly, and then more silence from them. Three weeks after the interview where I was told I'd be immediately moving to the next round, and twelve days since hearing from the recruiter despite my follow-up, I emailed the TAM directly. I explained that I enjoyed our conversation and was looking forward to the next interview as she had outlined. Two days later, I got a sweetly passive aggressive email from the recruiter telling me: "They have unfortunately decided to go in a different direction. The feedback I received was that they are looking for a heavier hitter. They also mentioned that you had applied directly after we submitted your profile." My qualifications were a perfect match, but whatever, I understand that it's subjective. But what a weird thing to say regarding a "heavier hitter." Then the accusation of applying directly after being recruited? What? I never applied directly. I searched wording from the role and found a different recruiting firm had white label posted the job, typos and all, last year. I had applied to that one some four months before being approached by this recruiter. Just a waste of time, and yes that happens. They just seem like a bunch of BS-ers.