Tech Professional Impacted by Gov Restructure — seeing some really strange things in the interview process. Looking for advice.

Hey all, I am a Pitt (undergraduate) and Katz MBA (Pitt graduate) alum that lives in Charlotte with 10+ years in Tech / Project Mgmt / Analytics

Like many others, I was unfortunately impacted by the government restructuring. With my colleagues being in the same position as myself, we aren’t in the best position to help one another. Since the layoffs I have been job searching full-time and I’m finding that what I’m encountering is anything but traditional.

The most surprising part of this process, though, has been the interviews themselves. 

I say this carefully because I don’t mean it arrogantly: historically, whenever I’ve been given the opportunity to interview for a role, I’ve received an offer. That pattern held throughout my career until entering the current market. Recently, however, the interview process has been… unusual.

A few examples:

1. Received an offer from a major bank in October. Communication then stopped for almost five months. When they re-engaged, I was asked to meet with the hiring manager again just to “touch base.” Instead, it turned into a surprise technical interview with team members who weren’t part of the original process. The questions focused heavily on a platform that was not on my resume and wasn’t part of the original job description. The hiring manager later apologized and explained the company hadn’t even adopted that platform when she initially interviewed me.
2. Made it to the 4th and final round with another major corporation and had a very similar experience. The technical interview focused almost entirely on tools and technologies that were never listed in the job posting and hadn’t been discussed earlier in the process. I was told I didn’t get the role because of those missing skills, but the team encouraged me to apply to other positions and offered to connect me directly if I found something else.
3. Interviewer forgot about the interview entirely and spent most of our time together trying to find his notes and figure out the role while asking questions he clearly hadn’t prepared.

I completely understand that the market is competitive and companies need to be selective. But the disconnect between job descriptions, recruiting conversations, and technical interviews has been pretty wild. It’s already difficult enough to get past ATS systems and secure an interview, so when the interview doesn’t even align with the role it can feel almost impossible without a strong network.

I’ve been at this for a while and found that traditional applications often disappear in ATS systems, so I’m trying to figure out where to go from here.

I'd appreciate advice/insight on getting my experience in front of the right people as well as direct connections.

I would genuinely appreciate it! Happy to provide more info as well!

Wishing the best to everyone else navigating this crazy market right now as well.