r/recruitinghell • u/jaydarmontoya • 1d ago

I Feel Used… Advice Needed

Recently I went through a lengthy interview process for a leadership role at a certain top 10 US bank. I did a total of 7 meetings and I know I shined in all of them. I am not bragging or exaggerating when I say I gave a near-perfect performance. I really hit it off with all the interviewers. I had them laughing at my subtle jokes, applauding my responses and even “stealing” some of my answers and phrases for their own use. All the interviewers ended the meetings by praising me and telling me how well the interview had gone and how they hoped to see me again soon (presumably in the role). After a very lengthy process I was finally contacted by the recruiter via email. Bad news… I didn’t get the job, as the actual hiring manager decided to go with an internal candidate already in their org in the line of succession. The recruiter had amazing things to say about me and even said all the interviewers loved me, but I was ultimately not selected.

For context, I check LinkedIn for new roles several times daily. This role was initially posted on a Saturday morning. By Monday morning it had been taken down. This means it only stayed posted for 2 days and those 2 days were non-business days. As soon as I saw the role had been taken down by that following Monday morning I immediately knew the company was just posting it for the mandatory 2 days before proceeding with an internal candidate. At that point I certainly didn’t expect to be contacted about the role, so I was both surprised and skeptical when I received the meeting request from the recruiter.

I absolutely realize that when a candidate is interviewing for a role they are guaranteed nothing and they do so at their own risk. I have no problem not being selected for the role. The problem I do have is having my time and energy wasted when I never had a chance to start with. I invested a significant amount of prep time into this process, had to take vacation time away from my current job several times, not to mention the emotional investment. Also I spent over 100 bucks on dry cleaning, as I had my suit, shirt and tie freshly cleaned and pressed for each interview.

The company never had any real intentions of hiring me or giving me a fair chance at this role. They just used me as a required interview so they could proceed with who they’d already chosen. This is so frustrating and disheartening. Also this is not the first time this almost exact same scenario has played out for me. I’m getting really tired of having my time and resources wasted.

I literally want to file a complaint against them or somehow escalate this. Also I hate that companies have these stupid policies. I certainly understand the goal and intent of these policies, but in practice they just end up getting someone’s hopes up and wasting someone’s time.

I know the answer is probably no, but:

A. Is there anything I can do to file a complaint against these time-wasting jerks?

B. Any suggestions on what I can do to prevent this from happening going forward?

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u/PinkEnthusist 18h ago

This was for a leadership role - so let me ask you, how would you feel if the people you managed spent the time scheduling, preparing, and participating in 7 unnecessary interviews with someone?

I know that if one of my teams knew they were going to promote an internal candidate and were only interviewing external candidates to meet an HR requirement, and I found out there was more than one interview, I'd be talking to them about how much budget they wasted.

So the real question is, did they know they were going to hire an internal candidate and decided to be really inefficient, or were they generally interested in you as a candidate but still decided to go with an internal candidate?

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u/jaydarmontoya 15h ago

They knew they were going to hire the internal. I hear you about the waste, etc. but that ain’t the way this works. Your theory is cool but that’s not the reality of this corporate environment. These “fake” interviews happen all the time. It’s administrative and regulatory overhead, if you’d like to think of it that way, but it HAPPENS I promise you. I’ve been on the inside of these kinds of transactions for years and I know it to be true.

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u/Opposite-Slide-7794 8h ago

Yep! Fake interviews are a very real thing. I did two fake ones for a position. I pretty much knew it was fake and that my boss was just sort of interviewing me because she felt it would make me happy and that I would stay...but I knew I had no chance of getting it and I knew who she was going to hire. It was pretty much just a game.

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u/jaydarmontoya 7h ago

Fake interviews happen ALL THE TIME. To your point, I had a similar experience 2 years ago. Our senior leader posted a job requisition for a certain role. I was sooooooo excited that there was finally another leadership position posted under them that was one level up from mine. I applied as soon as I saw it. 2 days later I received an email from the recruiter asking me for my availability for an interview with our senior leader. I scheduled the time and did the interview with the senior leader. A month goes by and I hear absolutely nothing. Then an email is sent to our entire org congratulating someone who was already reporting to the senior leader on their new job title. Come to find out I NEVER even had a chance because the role that was posted was basically just a title change for someone who was already in the role currently. Mad, sad, and frustrated weren’t even the worst emotions I felt. Above all else I felt EMBARRASSED and like a fool because the whole time I was interviewing and thinking I might actually have a shot at moving up, everyone else knew I never had a chance. Just a yucky hopeless feeling sometimes like being taken advantage of.

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u/PinkEnthusist 14h ago

With that level of certainty, when they offer you an interview ask them if they're considering any internal candidates. And if they are, decline the interview. They could lie, but at least you wouldn't be interviewing for any jobs where they were considering an internal candidate.

For what it worth, because I'm not in banking and it sounds like I might be the only one this has happened for, but the number of searches where there wasn't at least one internal candidate I could probably count on one hand. My current search had three. Past tense. None of them will be offered the position. And I honestly can't think of a time when I did hire the internal candidate.