I went through 4 rounds of interviews for a People Partner role, speaking with 5 different people at the company. I was told after the 4th round that a decision would be made the following week. I reached out directly via email that following week for an update. With no response after 48 hours I followed up again via email. Still no response from anyone for an additional week. I would have appreciated a simple "we are taking more time with our decision" email from someone during that time. Now today I finally received an automated "thanks but no thanks" email saying that I was not a fit. No mention of the fact that I had gotten to the final rounds of interviews for the role. No apology for ignoring my request for an update. As someone who has been a recruiter before, I would never treat a candidate this way. Candidates who make it to the final round at least deserve the 5 minutes it takes to write an original email, or even better a quick phone call. I know people are busy and emails can get overlooked, but the lack of professionalism at the end of this interview experience was really extraordinary.