I had my first interview on June 16, second interview on June 22 and the final, four-person panel interview on July 11. Throughout the above time period, my recruiter was responsive and followed up often.
The day after my panel interview, my recruiter called and told me I would be hearing from him on Tuesday with a decision, because, in his words, "he can't legally say with an offer."
I took that as a great sign and couldn't wait for Monday. The next couple days came and went, and my recruiter ignored my attempts to follow-up and get an update.
Finally, after several days, I got a quick call saying I was their first interview, but I was the leading candidate -- they just want someone to compare me to. I was told I'd hear from them the following week.
The following week was crickets, and I tried following up at the end of the week, and received no response for two weeks. I tried following up one more time and got an OOO message, which forwarded me to another recruiter, who contacted me after hours, within minutes of my email, with a sense of urgency on my behalf.
The following morning I received an email from my original recruiter, saying they will let me know something the next morning. Surprise, surprise, the next morning came and went with no word. After reaching out to the other recruiter who showed a sense of urgency, I received word that they were moving forward with interviewing someone else.
So, about a month after my final panel interview, I finally received a definite answer.
I am not sure if I had a poor recruiter, or if the hiring team's communication with the recruiter suffered hiccups, but I spent several hours interviewing and speaking to the hiring team and the company -- ghosting a candidate and stringing them along for several weeks AFTER their final interview is no way to treat people.
For what it's worth, the hiring manager and the four-person panel were all great to talk to and provided me with an excellent interview experience.