# Job Hiring Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hiring-question/151415>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 28, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hiring-question/151415 "2003-01-28T04:40:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![greenteeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@greenteeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenteeth)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hiring-question/151415/1 "2003-01-28T04:40:09Z")

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My wife interviewed for a adv. exec. job 2 weeks ago. My wife called the HR lady (who was very happy to talk to her) today to follow up and she was told she was one of two final candidates and they (the company) were checking resumes and would make their final decision Wednsday. For you HR types out there here is my question.

1. Is HR telling the complete truth?

2. Has HR selected someone else and the individual hasn’t decided to join yet. In other words my wife is insurance in case the other person declines?

3. Has my wife been selected for the job except for some formalities and HR says their is another person to have some leverage in salary negotiations?

4. Or is there just no freakin way to know and I’ve wasted everyone’s time asking this?

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2003, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/job-hiring-question/151415/2 "2003-01-28T04:49:30Z")

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Not an HR person, but I’ve been involved in hiring decisions.

There’s really no way to tell. Could be any of the three scenarios you mentioned, or it could be something else. Here’s hoping for #1.