I have had this happen quite often (so the behavior is widespread). That being said, I don't consider it rude. It's absent-minded, but not rude. However, you'll

I have had this happen quite often (so the behavior is widespread). That being said, I don't consider it rude. It's absent-minded, but not rude. However, you'll find that there are lots of people on both sides of this issue. There can be a number of reasons for the delay. Remember that, depending on the company, recruiters are often juggling hundreds of applicants, in a pipeline that's constantly being added to. This can actually be very overwhelming. But it can also be a delaying tactic: you did okay but not that well, so they're waiting to see how other candidates do, or waiting to see if another candidate accept the offer or not. At the end of the day I don't find it rude/burdensome to have to shoot a recruiter a 2-word email: "Any updates?". Or even shorter: "Pinging," and so on (in my subjective experience these have not been taken rudely, and recruiters appreciate conciseness). Also note that this is a tactic that can work the other way, to delay interviewing or accepting offers (you want to time your offers so you get them at the same time). I also don't think this has anything to do with big vs. small companies. Big companies might have more applicants but also have better internal tracking systems. Small companies might have just as many applicants per recruiter, and their tracking systems could be all over the place.