My brother went through the exact same circus, only somehow worse. It was absolutely fucked from the start. A small independent agency said they wanted to hire him full-time last autumn, then suddenly told him the role had shifted and needed "further financial approvals" - he was literally ready to move cities and about to sign a lease. Come December, they reached out and said "it's back on, we want you" after he'd already done four in-person interviews. Then they asked for more: made him come back to meet some of the same people he'd already seen. Total radio silence for sixty days after that, with only tiny dribbles of info coming through a hired recruiter who knew jack shit about anything - honestly felt like a DMV employee moonlighting as a recruiter.
Out of the blue, this person told him he was hired but "the client is really picky". They made him sign a thirty-day contract without any explanation. He started three weeks later on a Wednesday, had two meetings on his calendar, a Slack invite greeting, and some client materials to get across. By that Friday, he got a note saying: "The team didn't feel the hunger from you, and we're moving in another direction."
Three days. He'd already booked travel to come into the office that next week - never got reimbursed for it, let alone all the time he'd wasted with these people. Then they reposted the exact same job description on their site. Seven months of absolute bullshit. Honestly, he dodged a bullet. In twenty years doing this, I've never heard anything like it.
I should name and shame, but that would out me!
