I've been on a job hunt since October of last year. In that time, I've wasted untold hours with companies who were either not serious about filling the position the listed, or just outright have lied to me about “having an offer prepared”
Without exaggeration, I have now talked to 4 different companies that all followed up after interviews saying that they “had an offer prepared and were excited to move forward if I was still interested”
Each time I replied “thats fantastic! Please send me a copy of the offer in writing and I'll review it by CoB.” (Read: an offer is legally binding if and only if its in paper, so unless a company sends you a written offer, they don't have an offer for you)
With the most recent instance happening last week, ive now had 4 individual companies pull this bullshit on me over the last 4 or so months
Yes, it takes time to officially prepare an offer. No, this does not give them the right to ghost people who they're trying to keep on the hook incase the other 3 people they “have an offer prepared for” turn them down
FFS. Even when the job market is booming, companies will manipulate people to no end