All job seekers welcome an invitation to a second interview, because it indicates the company's interest. A third interview might seem even more positive, or even be the forerunner of an offer. But what happens when the process drags on to a fourth, fifth or sixth round and it's not even clear how close you are to the “final” interview? This is what happens after the third round of interviews in almost every organization I've ever witnessed (and some went on to four, five, six or more rounds). Five companies told him that they needed to delay hiring because of COVID-19, but only after he had done the final round of interviews.
Nobody needs four rounds of interviews to decide if a candidate is the right candidate for their organization. I will legitimately tell you that I will have to let go of this offer if I discover that the interview process requires more than 4 rounds, starting with the initial phone call. Then, he went through three rounds of interviews for a director position in a company he really liked, only to receive an email to coordinate six more rounds. The big day of the interview arrives and I get a call from the recruiter saying that the CEO is still out of town, but that they would go ahead with the process even though he was still out of town.
Three others invited him to several rounds of interviews until it was time to make an offer, at which point they decided to promote him internally. The recruiter makes the phone screen to ensure that it meets the basic requirements and can obtain background and so on. Interview fatigue affects both candidates and managers, so McDonald says candidates shouldn't be afraid to ask for more details about the motivation for the additional rounds, especially if it's difficult for them to take more time off from their current job. But especially during this job market, I can't believe they expected me to stay about a month for their interview process.
