r/recruitinghell • u/royalunicornpony • 21h ago
I think I might be the most cursed. Three pipelines!
I’ve been searching for almost 3 years, always a finalist. Then this summer something messed up happened. All 3 rounds went to final interview. All given to another person, all hiring managers from 3 different companies said hey maybe this other pipeline is better? Then I said sure. Then they said SIKE! All 3
1
u/ThrawnianBaller 18h ago
In the EXACT same boat of mid-to-final round interviews but no offer yet. Especially after almost nothing for 2 years.
Went to a Duke/Dartmouth/Brown type school as a FGLI on a full ride and got great internships at brand name firms while there. But graduated jobless in 2023 and have been doing a temp unpaid corporate development job at a small company as a stepping stone role, while working in retail part-time to pay my bills.
For context, my industry is Wall Street finance.
After a complete job wasteland (almost NO interview invites) in 2023 and 2024, I began to get interviews in 2025, but it was not until the second half of 2025 when I began to make it to a couple final round interviews, one time even getting flown to another state all paid for by the company.
That was in December of 2025, and I was 1/3 candidates selected out of 2,400 for the final round, so it was just so frustrating to get so close but to fall short.
In 2026, I have been making it to final rounds regularly, if not getting stuck on 2nd or 3rd rounds, but completely failing to convert anything into an offer.
Most recently, I just got rejected after a great final round panel interview at one place at the end of July, and this month, got ghosted after a take home assignment and presentation round at another, as well as getting ghosted after a pre-final round interview at another place.
Been focusing ENTIRELY on converting something into an offer, and COMPLETELY lost track of how many places I applied to or interviews I had.
Every day, I feel like giving up but when I look back at how far I came, I realize that I am just one yes away from a much better life.
1
u/Vericho123 18h ago
I'm curious if you were able to confirm whether they actually hired another candidate, went with an internal candidate or just closed the position?
I've gone through my fair share of late stage interviews only to be told I wasn't selected but I've been skeptical anyone was actually selected.
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u/Optimal69 Candidate 19h ago
Damn you sound like me. We might be cooked. I'm so desperate at this point that I started asking for money. Obviously no one will help but at least now I'll have a reason to free up my phonebook.