Time was, they would be pretty much left alone to wait for an assignment. Those were the days when the congregations were growing and every "brother(??)" wanted to be a hounder. You hardly had any congregations where they were disintegrating. If you did, there would be 50 people ahead of you.
Now, it seems that everywhere there are congregations that are falling apart. Meeting attendance having dropped from the 100 area into the teens and lower 20s. Hounders are leaving the ranks and, in many cases, becoming apostate. That is why they are being assigned so quickly after getting finished with the program.
Note that the refusal was not treated lightly. The brother had good reason to refuse (no jobs, no help in finding jobs--no sustenance), but that was not factored in when they decided to drop him out of the program. He had to drive more than 600 miles a week for boasting sessions and field circus, and that translates to huge amounts of gas wasted. But, refusal is a serious spiritual matter. This made him as good as the inactives and disfellowshipped ones in the congregation.
And it is going to get a lot worse. I can see the day when a graduate will get more than one assignment in the same day. And it could well be separated the whole country apart. The organization is falling apart, and it seems that there are more congregations with crappy meeting attendance than ones with healthy attendance. Hounders are dropping out or turning apostate, and no one wants to step up. This isn't the 1980s and early 1990s when everyone wanted those positions.
I have seen what happens when no one volunteers. I remember that in elementary school when one person gets sent to dispose of all the used lunch trays for the table. If no one volunteers, the teachers have to assign someone. And that happened more often than not. The same principle happens in the organization. More and more, no one is volunteering. So the congregations are starting to have to assign someone to take the position. Which could lead to some super drastic measures on their part--including finding single men in the congregations, even inactive/doing things to get disfellowshipped for, and forcing them to go to boasting sessions. Of course, they are going to spin the lie about saving them from everlasting destruction. Endless sessions of torture (sleep deprivation and loss of freedom) follow for about 6 months, and then the person is assigned. Then the MTS gets popped on them, and soon they are on their way to a congregation.
Or, two. Or, three. Or...