“Looking forward to chatting and have a great day!”
That was the last line in an email from a recruiter who had reached out to me directly. The role seemed like a great fit. He shared reading materials, talked up the company culture, and scheduled a first-round interview. The industry was interesting and the online reviews about the company were great.
Monday came. I logged on early. I was the only one in the meeting. I waited. Then followed up politely:
“Hi. I’m in the meeting. Let me know if there’s an issue and we should reschedule. I’m still interested in the position.”
I never got a response or acknowledgment. Ever. That was the first time I was ghosted by a recruiter, and it wouldn’t be the last. At first, I was embarrassed, I was angry my time was wasted, and I was disappointed to get my hopes up. Then I realized I wasn’t alone. I started asking around. Turns out, being ghosted during the hiring process is disturbingly common.
Fake jobs, aka “ghost jobs” are also incredibly common. These are jobs that companies never intend to fill. This can be for a variety of reasons – salary research, H1B justifications, and yes, scaring existing employees into performing better. Companies get something out of posting ghost jobs. You, as an applicant get nothing except your time wasted.
Adding to all of this are absurd amount of interview rounds, unpaid “trial projects.” Communication black holes. The more I looked into it, the more obvious it became: The recruiting process isn’t just broken. It’s not even about recruiting anymore, and that’s how it’s exactly it’s designed. Every part of this process is designed to benefit companies, not people. Companies get hundreds of candidates for just a handful of positions. What incentive do they have to act responsibly or exercise etiquette? There isn’t one.
This has created a new reality for job hunting:
- Dozens of applications a week.
- Repeating your resume in every system.
- Conflicting advice from “experts.”
- Constant anxiety, self-doubt, and financial pressure.
If you’re lucky enough to land an interview, you better hope the recruiter decides to treat you like a human being. It’s time to stop normalizing this. We’re done begging recruiters to “remember there are people on the other side.” They know. They just don’t have to care.
That’s where we come in. We’re not just exposing bad behavior. We’re holding companies publicly accountable for how they hire by building a platform that puts the power back in the hands of the people: the job seekers.
We want to enable job seekers to:
- See real, anonymous hiring experiences before you apply
- Understand whether a company ghosts, communicates, delays, or respects your time
- Spot patterns of bad behavior and call them out
- Choose where to invest your time based on truth, not PR
We’re not asking companies and recruiters to remember the human anymore. We’re going to do something about it.