The recruiter reached out to me via LinkedIn. A couple of days later I had a 30 mins call with the recruiter who told me about the role and the hiring process. A week later I got the phone interview invite with the hiring manager. The hiring manager asked couple of product design questions like your favorite product and design smart refrigerator for blind which I think I answered to best of my knowledge following. The hiring manager told me that someone from the recruitment team will get back to me with next steps. The recruiter reached out to me after 5 days asking for a follow up call. I gave her few dates and times which she never responded and after 2 weeks she mailed me saying while the manager liked my profile , he thinks I am a good fit for their core product team. She asked me if I am interested in pursuing that, to which I said yes. Now a week later I am getting another email from another recruiter saying that after careful consideration they do not think I am the right fit.
There is no harm is saying NO directly. I would not have written this if they had not wasted my time and energy. Really guys show some professionalism and respect to others time and effort.
I think the hiring team needs to be more people centric. I think the most people centric function is the most non-emphatic one.