Reply #1: Once in a blue moon, I get a phone call telling me I didn't get the job.

[Kat45]

This has happened rarely, and only when I've actually gone in for an interview. Once or twice I have received an email letting me know that they got so many qualified candidates that they will not pursue my candidacy. There have been times I've had a second interview with a company and nobody ever got back to me to let me know I didn't get the job. (And in some cases, it was a job I really wanted and thought I might get.) I agree with you that the employers' practices are rude, particularly when you've gone in for an in-person interview. And I too have seen jobs continue to be advertised; other times, I see the job advertised again several months later. I have no idea what is going on: Did they hire someone and fire them? Did they not find anyone perfect enough to hire? Did the job ever even exist?