I applied for the position online after seeing it posted on LinkedIn. I had a typical screener call, another screener call that felt like they had forgot I had been screened, a paneled interview, another interview with an executive and submitted an extensive communications plan that took me hours to develop from scratch. Despite being told that I was up for a final interview on the position, I was eventually ghosted. Completely ghosted, no replies, never even a thanks but no thanks. Genuinely bizarre, but also completely humiliating.

The interview process itself was fairly straightforward: 1) recruiter screen, 2) interview with the hiring manager, 3) panel round with 5 cross-functional peers, and 4) final round with VP/department head, and the questions throughout were the appropriate level of difficulty I'd expect for the role. However, the communication by the recruiting team was severely lacking. While I had a discussion with the recruiting lead prior to the panel rounds (he initiated it and suggested a time), he "forgot" that we had planned to meet and arrived 45 mins late and only after I sent him an email asking if the time block still worked after 15 mins past the planned start time. During final rounds, I got invited to do an onsite tour and ride in the Zoox vehicle. The recruiting lead also asked for references just beforehand, and during the tour, said he called one and would finish up the other within the next couple of days. He said he expected an offer to come through and would be in touch by Friday or Monday at the latest (I had my onsite on that Wednesday) with some hopefully "good news." He would also phrase things as "when you are in the role," and "i think you'll find leading this org that," etc. That evening I sent a thank you to him and the VP for hosting me and reinforced my excitement about he role. Friday passed, then Monday...so I followed up a week after my offsite to check-in...crickets. A week after that, I followed up again...more crickets. After 3 weeks, I reached out directly to the hiring manager which prompted a generic rejection email from the recruiting lead saying I wasn't a "strong match." What...?! If that was the case, why did I make it to final rounds and why bother checking my (and having me unnecessarily burn through) references? While I really enjoyed the actual interviews and could have easily seen myself joining Zoox, I was beyond disappointed with the recruiting team. Being ghosted period - but especially after final rounds and calling my references which were both glowing - is beyond disappointing and completely unprofessional. I'm not sure if this is reflective of company culture, but looking at Glassdoor reviews, it may be.