>Real question: How long should she sit at her desk and twiddle her thumbs, waiting for your reply, before she moves on to emailing/phoning/interviewing a different candidate? Or perhaps she should pursue multiple candidates at the same time, to immensely speed up the process and reduce her time wasted just waiting to hear back from potential candidates who may never respond back?

Huh? Of course she should pursue multiple candidates at the same time. I can hold that belief and simultaneously express frustration with the above story. Do you think this is some sort of dichotomy?