I first had my interview with the recruiter, and then I was given an assessment test. Upon review with the hiring manager/s, I was then scheduled for an interview with them. It was generally a positive experience as I felt connected with the interviewers (from the recruiter up to the hiring managers).
In a way, they were kind of transparent about still reviewing other candidates for the position, and I appreciated that. I was hopeful, but of course, I had to manage my expectations too. In the midst of job hunting, I was still hoping to hear back from them, whether it was positive or negative news, but sadly, after that 2nd interview, it was radio silence.
After 2 weeks of no feedback from them, I decided I going to move on, but then I found it confusing that my application was active on their website's job portal, tagged as "interview in progress". It kind of gave me hope that perhaps they were still considering proceeding with my application, so I decided to wait out another 2 weeks again.
To have some peace of mind, I sent a follow-up email to the recruiter. I gave it a week before deciding to fully move on from this application. In the end, I still didn't get a response, so I decided to let it go and put more effort into applying to other companies.
Despite the "ghosting" that occurred, I'd still check my application on their website from time to time, and it remained active for 3 months before deciding that my application was unsuccessful. It's not that I'm bitter about not getting the position, and I get that each company has different recruitment policies than the other. But at least, getting a rejection email would have been nice, rather than being met by radio silence. I would have tagged this review as a positive experience cos I thought it was (at least at first), but I hope this is something that Aurecon can look into improving for their future candidates.