Why are brilliant engineers still getting ghosted in 2026?

I know a student who ground LeetCode for 6 months straight.

Consistent commits. Real projects. Genuine skills.

Applied to 47 companies across Internshala, LinkedIn, Naukri, Unstop, Wellfound and 5 other platforms.

Waited 30 days on one application.

Found out the company was fake.

Started over.

This is not a rare story. This is every student's story.

And the worst part? While he was doing everything right — somewhere else a guy was asking ChatGPT to rewrite his resume to sound like a senior engineer with 5 years of React experience.

Both applied to the same job.

Only one got the interview.

I'll let you guess which one.

The job market in 2026 is broken in ways nobody talks about openly:

• Students are scattered across 10 different platforms just to have a chance

• Missing opportunities simply because they were heads down building

• Waiting weeks on applications that lead nowhere

• And competing against AI-generated resumes that look perfect but mean nothing

The hustle is real. The system is not built for it.

I personally missed the Blinkit internship.

Not because I wasn't good enough. Because I was busy building.

By the time I heard they were hiring, the window had already closed.

That moment changed how I think about hiring forever.

So I want to ask the builders and recruiters here on Product Hunt:

What is the worst hiring experience you've ever had — as a candidate or as someone trying to hire?

Drop it below. Every story matters and I'm genuinely reading all of them. 👇