Recruiter reached out on Linkedin with a position. I interviewed with the recruiter for 15-30 min, and had a followup short interview with a designer a few days later.
It's a busy time of year and I was transparent I was busy, but we made it work. I received feedback that they wanted to bring me in for another round, however i must have skimmed her email and missed directions that she had cc'd a lead recruiter, and wanted me to follow up with times. Although I acknowledged I had received her email, I never followed up with the cc'd recruiter, who also never followed up with me.
I received a notice today, about 4 days later, that they "had decided to move forward with stronger candidates." At that point I also re-read the email from last week and realized I missed some directions.
I don't mind being passed over, and I appreciate the constant updates. However to be scouted for a position, get passed over to a lead recruiter, have the lead recruiter fail to reach out, and then receive communication a few days later that "they are moving on with stronger candidates" has not been typical of my experiences interviewing at other companies. While I can imagine any number of things happened on their end to change their mind, I can only go off what they communicate.
During these interviews I was told the company is really hoping to bring some designers who can help breathe design thinking into their organization - which is ringing alarm bells on my end if this is how they engage potential candidates. Everyone was pleasant, but the way this was handled seems disorganized from my end, and that my time wasn't respected. Hopefully it goes smoother for the other candidates, and any future positions they are trying to fill.