Applied via their career website. A few days later, received an email from a recruiter asking me to complete an email interview form, which led to a phone interview with the recruiter scheduled about 2 weeks later. That went well so I was scheduled for a phone interview with the hiring manager, again, 2 weeks later.
Phone interview with hiring manager seemed to go well. In fact, I received an email from the recruiter inviting me to come in for an in-person interview within the week. Great! Responded to the email with 3 available dates/times, as requested, then crickets. No response from the recruiter. I thought maybe she quit her job!
Two weeks later (Expedia must like the #2!), I received a response from the recruiter that said she was in a "holding pattern" and would contact me as soon as she had direction. Strange to receive such a cold, impersonal email after having several positive, warm interactions with her and the hiring manager...and an invitation to continue in the process!
At that point, I assumed the opportunity was dead. Surely they wouldn't treat a candidate they wanted so poorly. Received a generic rejection email from their ATS one month later. Disappointing, but expected.
I'm not at all upset by the rejection. It's part of the recruiting process. However, I expected more from Expedia. It's poor form to invite someone to interview and then leave them hanging for so long. Recruiting is a two-way process. I respect the time and effort of the hiring team at Expedia by offering them clear, timely communication during the process. I understand that recruiting teams are overwhelmed, but that's not an excuse for such a poor candidate experience. I hope this was an isolated event.