Big difference between responding to every resume (not really practical) and responding to someone who has put time and effort into a grueling interview process

Big difference between responding to every resume (not really practical) and responding to someone who has put time and effort into a grueling interview process and has reason to believe they are on some sort of short list. Quite some time ago I was recruited by Apple for a mgmt position (team of ~50). I flew from NYC to CA (they paid of course), went through 8+ hours of interviews with people I would be reporting to, parallel with, and managing. Long story short, after waiting two weeks and hearing nothing, I had to pester the recruiter with 3 or 4 phone calls (unanswered messages) before I "caught" him answering his cell, whereupon he said something very brief and off-putting about not being a good fit, and acting like I had breached some sort of rule of etiquette by insisting on a direct response. I had no way of knowing what their process was, whether I was still in the running (of course I had a hunch I wasn't, but you really never know with this sort of thing). I had decisions I had to make that were impacted by this trailing variable of probability that I might have a big-shot job in Cupertino. Anyone who gets to that point in the process deserves the respect of a formal indication that you are not the chosen one.