I was contacted directly by a recruiter on LinkedIn and agreed to move forward with the interview process. From the start, the recruiter was very pushy about scheduling, despite me clearly communicating my work schedule and availability. After completing initial interviews, I was ghosted for over a week. When I finally heard back, I was told that an offer had already been extended to another candidate, even though I had been waiting to schedule the final round of interviews and had not been informed of any urgency or deadline. The lack of communication and respect for candidates’ time made this a frustrating experience. If a role is already close to being filled, that should be communicated clearly rather than leaving candidates waiting without updates.