If you have an interview, and the employer never responds to you but it seems obvious that they simply decided to choose someone else, I guess the best response is to simply get over it - but is it fair to communicate that you were expecting a reply? If so, what would be a good way to communicate that?
This question is clearly not about asking for feedback.
There is no way that admonishing a potential employer is going to work out in your favor. Discretion is the better part of valor here.
Option 1 is that despite your assumption, they haven't actually finished the process. Sometimes it takes time to interview everyone. Sometimes it takes time to negotiate with the first choice or the first choice accepts the offer but then decides to accept a counteroffer a couple weeks later. If you write to complain, that's just going to make the employer less likely to consider you favorably-- who wants to work with someone that is complaining before they even start?
Option 2 is that you interviewed with a good company that intends to let candidates know that they weren't selected but just failed to do so in your case. If so, you're basically in the position of calling someone out for behaving impolitely. Sure, you might get an apology but you'll put also raise questions about how, say, you would deal with a customer or business partner that made a mistake. That's going to make it less likely that this employer will consider you again in the future-- people that go right to scolding when someone else doesn't do what they aren't going to be good at building and cultivating relationships.
Option 3 is that you interviewed with a company that doesn't care. If so, consider that the lack of a reply gives you some useful information about what sort of employer you want to be working for. And if the company doesn't care, they're not going to care about your email. You might get a half-hearted apology but it is unlikely that they will do anything to make you feel better about the situation.
If you are determined to follow up, you can certainly send something like
Dear
<<Hiring Manager Name>>-I wanted to follow up with you about the
<<title>>position I interviewed for<<x weeks ago>>. Am I still under consideration for this position? If not, it was a pleasure to meet<<people you met>>and to learn about<<company name>>. If I am still a candidate, is there an expected timeline for making a decision?Sincerely,
user70848
Of course, that sort of thing is unlikely to feel particularly emotionally fulfilling when you're really upset that the employer didn't bother to reply when they decided to go in a different direction. Realistically, you're better served complaining to friends or family about how wrenching the application process can be than to send an email that admonishes a potential employer.
There is no good way to do that and it will only make the employer more convinced he made the right choice in passing on on hiring you. What could you possibly gain from such a thing? They certainly are not going to change either their minds or their policies. You might have been a close second and they might consider calling you if the first guy backs out or if they have a another opening. But by behaving unprofessionally, you will surely rule that out. So, there is no possible gain whatsoever.
It is immature to expect companies to waste their time on failed candidates. In almost 40 years in the workplace, I have only been contacted once when I didn't get a job and that was because the person who did the contacting preferred me over the person who got the job and wanted to let me know how close the selection was (3-2 in a panel of 5).
The best thing to do is to reconsider your point of view and don't take such rejections so personally that you feel the need to call out the real or perceived rude behavior.
Such behavior is far more common than what you're expecting. The sad truth is there is time to respond politely to each candidate which has interviewed. Unfortunately, HR works strictly for the benefit of the employer. Aside from that fact that it may be company "policy" to cut-off communication with rejected candidates, even highly considerate people in HR will simply dread the idea of calling N-1 rejected candidates and giving bad news. It takes a lot of effort, skill, and tact to communicate rejection in a polite and empathetic way and that's rare in corporate environments.
However, you may find as you develop your professional network that you can use indirect methods to find out what happened with each rejection. Many jobs are filled via an informal referral from someone in the company or known by the hiring manager. This person can be a point of contact who can at least fill in some details about the nature of your rejection. This can be valuable for recalibrating expectations as you continue your job search.
The only way that you can get some personal satisfaction out of this is to admonish them by becoming their competitor and eating them for breakfast. And if that's your intention, then don't let them know about it until it's a fait accompli.
After that rub it in all you want if you feel they're even worth the effort anymore.
You are wasting your time and you are wasting theirs. Don't you have better things to do with your time, like continuing your job search?
If you have a feeling that they chose someone else, then why do you insist on barking up the wrong tree - especially since you have a pretty good feeling that you are barking up the wrong tree? Trying to continue a conversation that the other party deems is over gets you nowhere. At best.
Put this experience behind you and be gone! There are other prospects out there. Go where the promise is. You have to know when to play your cards, when to fold them and when to get new cards.
