"Hesitant to add to the headcount"

I started a thread on here a week or two ago about how nervous I was for my upcoming fourth interview ... and after two weeks of them failing to schedule that interview, I finally got a phone call today from the recruiter I've been in contact with.

She apologized for stringing me along and mentioned that they were going through a company "restructure" and were analyzing their 2009 budget to decide whether or not they could afford to hire any new people at the moment. She encouraged me to keep in touch and stated that they were still very interested in me.

So, basically, I think I'd have this job by now if the economy wasn't so effing horrible. That's a really hard thing to deal with. I hate 2009 so far Has anyone had any experiences where they've been offered a job that had been put "on hold" due to budget/monetary issues?

Yes, it happens a lot... They decide to hire, get approval... then go thru the process, and somewhere along the line, someone higher up the management chain looks at the budgets and they impose a hiring freeze to try to save money...

But a job may open up there once they've evaluated things... sometimes it is a temporary freeze while they restructure and decide what jobs they need filled, and if you're lucky, that job may be one they decide they need.

Just keep in touch, but don't count on it and keep interviewing elsewhere.