This feels spot on. Having been on both sides of the table, I understand why these are true, but still don't like a lot of these interactions. The worst one is

This feels spot on. Having been on both sides of the table, I understand why these are true, but still don't like a lot of these interactions. The worst one is ghosting, there's no reason for an interviewer to leave you hanging, at least they should be following up to say "You're still in contention but..." and do the same regularly every few days until they can make a decision. The only thing missing from your writeup is the observation that the hiring process usually reflects the organization. If your interview and followups were chaos / overly-complicated / streamlined, the company is probably chaotic / bureaucratic / well-organized, too. Also: @fuzzygroup built my job tracking idea! It's fantastic to see that my laziness has paid off, and I want to hear more about how JobHound works out for you. Please post a follow-up in a few days / weeks / months of what you've learned or what you wish you'd done differently.