About 2 weeks after the application deadline (I'd submitted my application in advance of the deadline) I received an invitation for a 30 minute phone screen with the manager of one of the roles I was interested in. (The application asks you to rank the handful of roles they offer, and I'm not sure what the policy is regarding how many interviews you might be eligible to get.) The phone screen went well (I had lots of questions, we had a good conversation, but the call was scheduled for 30 minutes and she cut it off after about 32 minutes), and I followed up with the interviewer by email after and got a quick response back, confirming the hiring manager had received my email. On the application timeline it was clear that the final selection date for candidates would be July 31, about six weeks after my initial interview, and that either one or two more rounds of interviews would be part of the process if I was selected to move forward.
When I didn't hear back after close to two weeks, I emailed the hiring manager again, following up to let her know I was still very interested in the role. No response. Two weeks later, another follow up, no response. Though I've been ghosted by many employers before, even after interviews, this one surprised me because their application process and timeline is very clearly posted on their site, and the hiring manager seemed to want to spend a lot of time at the end of my interview going over what the timing of next steps might look like. It's also a highly structured citywide program. On top of that, not that I was expecting much, but both on paper and in the interview I was the ideal fit for this role, and also had a colleague reach out to someone she knows in the department to put in a good word on my behalf. So more than for other situations, I was surprised to not get a second round interview.
I'm obviously assuming I wasn't selected, but the complete radio silence on this one frustrated me more so than for other positions, especially because the application process initially was so extensive (writing samples, special essays, two letters of recommendation, transcript, etc- closer to a grad school app than a job app) and I know it's a selective program and I definitely knew getting picked was a long shot, but any message from them would have been nice.
I recently heard that another city fellowship program for teaching was cut for this upcoming year, so I immediately thought that perhaps the same could have happened to the Service Fellowship program, given the major cuts in the city budget and the general economic strain due to the pandemic. This is entirely plausible, but there is nothing saying this on the website and I didn't receive an email about it.
I know it's not that constructive to complain about not hearing back from an employer after an interview, and that in the end it's more about having an in with the employer (which again, I did have) but I hope this post gives a little more nuance into why I expected better on this one.