I'm convinced recruiters are just interviewing people to look busy
It's been well documented that very few people are actually getting hired. The latest job report states that only 29,000 jobs were added last month. That's less than 600 jobs per state.
I recently spoke to a friend who had SIX rounds of interviews for an entry level role paying less than 50k/year. They were ghosted after two months.
The only reason I can imagine this madness exists is that recruiters know the company isn't hiring, but they can't just sit around twiddling their thumbs in their office. They've decided to fill their calendars to "meet prospective candidates" or to "build a network for future candidates" as a way to argue that they are valuable to their employer.
Several people have told me that having 5+ interviews is justifiable and normal, but this hasn't been the norm. Every job I've accepted has been at most 3 interviews. What are recruiters going to learn about a candidate in the sixth interview that they haven't already learned in the first five? Are they trying to measure how many PTO days we're willing to sacrifice to do yet another interview?