Applied online and was contracted by recruiter about a week later. We had a fairly standard screening call about experience, salary, company culture, etc. A few days/week later, she emailed to schedule a call with the hiring manager. Spoke to the hiring manager (30min phone call) and had what I thought was a good conversation, discussing my experience, needs of the role, company culture again (recruiter was remote), sounded like a good fit and he ended the call with "speak to you soon". Then radio silence. I email the recruiter. She hasn't heard from the hiring manager. I email again, no response. Finally I send another email to the recruiter (it's now 3.5 weeks since my call with the hiring manager) and basically give her permission to tell me they're not moving forward–saying that even knowing that they'd moved forward with other candidates would be a helpful update. TWO HOURS later I get a form decline email from a no-reply email that she couldn't even bother to fill out; it literally had "{JOB TITLE}" in the email. I completely understand if they wanted someone with a different background and skillset–they had both told me that they were still defining the role and title could change–but it was such a thoughtless and cold way to reject a candidate, especially after several calls and correspondence. Candidates are people with feelings. Have a little empathy!