In March 2022, a member of the Morgan Stanley Talent Acquisition team from Bangalore approached me regarding a VP QA position in their Wealth Management team. After the initial HR screening, I received a call the following week informing me that this was a high-priority position needing to be filled ASAP, with a hiring drive scheduled for that week. I agreed to this and consented to having interviews scheduled with very short notice. For instance, the Talent Acquisition team called me in the morning and scheduled a technical round for the evening of the same day.

I completed the following three interviews:

• March 30: First round, technical. This lasted for an hour, and I cleared it.
• April 4: Second round, technical. This also lasted for an hour, and I cleared it.
• April 8: Third round, with the hiring manager. This lasted for an hour.

During my third interview with the hiring manager, I was repeatedly asked if I would be comfortable with a hybrid model (two days in the office, three days WFH) and overlapping with US timings (8:30 PM India). Having previously worked in US banks, I assured the hiring manager that this would not be an issue. She indicated everything was fine and that the Talent Acquisition team would get back to me soon.

I was very hopeful that my discussions had gone well and anticipated the next step would be the HR round for compensation discussions.

However, I was completely ghosted.

I haven't heard back from the Talent Acquisition team or anyone from Morgan Stanley after April 8. My application in their Taleo system remained "Interview in progress" throughout this period.

Finally, last week, I withdrew my candidature for the position in Taleo, which provided the closure I needed.

It's unfortunate that after investing considerable time and effort, such reputed brands appear not to care about the candidate experience.

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