In the past few months, I’ve been trying to get a job. I’m a trained chef and other skills, but every interview I’ve gone on, I don’t get a call back. At first i thought it was because they were hourly positions, but recently I went on a salaried (or a classier) job as a teacher and now two weeks later, no call back to say, no thank you or whatever. I’ve left messages for the HR person and the hiring manager, but now I’ve written them off.
Is it now OK to just throw the files away and say screw them if you don’t hire them? I thought it was a courtesy to at least call and say no thanks, especially if you call to ask about the job.
I know I’m a loser, but they don’t have to confirm it by ignoring me. I’d like to know why I didn’t get the job. (ok I know why, but lie to me)
well, since I have never send a letter, even in the downturns of the 80’s, 90’s and now 00’s. no. However, since the last place was going to call me the next week to set up the next phase, I don’t think I have to, since they were looking to bring me in mid week (interview was on a Friday). By the next Thursday, I started to call to see if there was a problem. I’m still waiting on that call back.
I never find letters to be all that important in the fields I’ve been in. Also, most of the jobs lately are hourly type positions. Usually hired within the week.
I don’t think it has anything to do with whether you send a thank-you letter, which, BTW, I think is a good idea.
But when I interview I always ask before I leave when I can expect to hear from them. And if I don’t hear from them by that date, I start calling. I think it’s totally reasonable to expect them to get back to you; if you’ve gone on the interview you’re obviously in the running for the job, and you’re obviously going to be intensely interested to know if you got it or not. I probably wouldn’t write it off even after I knew I hadn’t go the job, either, just because their failure to let me know would piss me off – I’d keep calling until someone realizes that if they want me to understand that I didn’t get the job, they’re going to have to break down and tell me so.
That said, if you hadn’t been interviewed, if you only sent materials, then I don’t think they have any obligation to tell you that you’re not in the running for the job. The way it’s always worked IME is that you send your stuff in, they call you if they want to talk to you. No call = don’t want to talk to you. Usually, in my field at least, a “bite me” letter will float in weeks or months later, after the position has been filled and they’re kissing off all the other applicants, but by that time you know you weren’t in the running anyway.
But to not let an interviewed candidate know, and in a reasonable time, is totally, totally rude.
First of all, I know your pain. I can’t stand it when they tell me at the end of the interview that they’ll know something in a week and two weeks later I haven’t heard a thing. At least they could call back and let you know that nothing has been decided yet. It’s unbelievably aggaravating. People always forget that “waiting for a job” time goes so much slower than “looking for an applicant” time.
I will agree with the others who recommend sending a thank you letter. It’s so easy these days because you can just do it via email. I really do think that it makes a big difference.
I don’t know how it is in your field, but generally, I’ve gotten “We interviewed many qualified candidates…” letters, not calls. And it sometimes takes a while for them to get around to it, if they get around to it at all. One reason is that they want to be really, really sure they have their first choice on the hook before letting the others go. Unfortunately another reason is that they just don’t have to bother–there’s nothing in it for them. The other posters are right, though, you should be sending follow-up letters after an interview.
I personally hate it when I get calls rather than letters, if the answer is “No”. It’s only happened a couple of times–when I was, basically, the first runner-up for the position, and was well-liked by the interviewers, so the employers in question wanted to extend an extra courtesy to me beyond the standard rejection form letter.
Hmph. Courtesy, my ass.
All it did was send my little hopes soaring during the first few seconds of the phone call (“They’re calling! They must be gonna offer me the job!”), which just meant a greater plummet for my poor little hopes when it turned out, in fact, to be a rejection call.
And it doesn’t help to know that it came down to me and one other person, either, by the way. It just makes me wish that other person hadn’t applied for the job.
It seems that these days, the majority of companies regard their employees, and prospective employees and nonpersons. They are essentially parts in a machine, to be selected or not, used, or thrown away as though they were inanimate objects.
Yeah, the waiting for the promised call that never comes sucks.
Folks, my employer’s in the final stages of hiring right now. We’ve received over 200 applicants for one job. As the person who writes the letters and makes the calls, my time is limited, especially since about half the time I’m leaving messages. The other thing I’m up against is my boss, the fellow who’ll make the final decision, travels a lot, so I’ve got to book interviews in while he’s here, yet still leave him time to do the other 101 things that need to be done.
I’d like to get letters out sooner myself. I was laid off a year ago myself and out of work for 7 months. I know what it’s like! it stinks. Dewizeowl, one thing I can offer to you is this. We don’t send out letters until we’re certain someone’s off the list. If you don’t get a call right away, it may mean you’re not the top candidate, but you may still be in the running. On the other hand, I must admit that only about 10% of the jobs I applied for sent letters, and most of the time I already knew what they’d say.
One other thing. Thank you letters do make a difference, at least as far as my company’s concerned, including thank you letters for a first interview. If you’re one of a few hundred people applying for the job, which seems to be what things are like nowadays, I’d suggest doing everything you can to improve your odds. A bit of ink, paper, and a stamp’s a cheap way of doing that.
Been there, done that and it pisses me off no end as well. I have had three interviews in the last fortnight out of the three applications I have sent in the same period (not bad going I thought). Two of the interviews were done through recruitment agencies, and both said I would definitely get a second interview with the employer within the next few days. I am still waiting for contact from one of them who interviewed me a fortnight ago, despite several phone calls and an email expressing my continued strong interest in the position. I had the second interview with the other job yesterday, only to find out at that late stage that the software and platform they use for the desktop publishing component of the job (and the reason I applied) was the opposite of where my skills and experience are. The third interview (directly with the employer) was last Tuesday and they said they would be making a decision and letting the interviewees know by the end of the week. Needless to say, I didn’t hear anything from them.
I have applied for 26 jobs in the last 2 months, been asked in for an interview by 7, have declined 2 of these after a further discussion with the employer (location not stated in the ad and too far away, software used inappropriate) and have attended 5 interviews. I have received reject letters/emails from precisely 5 (including one where I was interviewed). So 18 of the jobs I have applied for, I have not had any response at all. Furthermore, in many cases, I didn’t even know who I was applying to, as the email address was the only contact info supplied. Makes it hard to do followup leters or phone calls.
Since all but one application was by email (faxed) how hard can it be for those who are not even getting to interview stage to be emailed back (it can even all be done in one impersonal hit if you put all the addresses in the BCC box, then the other’s don’t know to whom it has been sent).
Luckiy, I finally got hired full-time, but before then, nobody was calling. Of course, now that I have been hired, I’ve been getting calls every day now. growl Stupid timing…
If the person interviewing you says they’ll know something in x amount of days, wait that long for an answer.
If that time passes, call them and check in, unless they have previous told you not to. They won’t get mad at you, and you’re probably not the only person who has done it.
If you decided to not call and just kept waiting and nobody calls, assume you didn’t get the job.
God, job hunting is the most outdated and stupid manner of gaining employment. You’d think there would be a more simplified and streamlined way of getting your information and qualifications in front of the face of the hiring person. Instead, in my personal experience anyway, your info (resume, cv, whatever you call it) goes through the HR gauntlet, where some HR bunny combs thru the resumes, and tosses aside whatever dosen’t match what he/she thinks the employer wants. The perfect person is often passed over for the most arbitrary reasons. And getting an interview, which was like getting to second base, is now no longer a guarantee of anything anymore.:mad:
You can get your hopes up falsely. I have a job now, but I was unemployed for a year, and the game of job hunting had me going insane.
It’s as bad when the person combing through the resumes is a recruitment agency poppet, who wouldn’t know the difference between working on a PC vs a Mac, or using Pagemaker or Quark. I got to a second interview before that little hiccup became apparent.
Yes. Never forget that no matter how skilled or important you think you are, you are a cog in a big machine that can replaced just as easily as the fax machine or the copier.
When you have an HR person going through a box of resumes like they trying to decide which apple to pick out of a cart of apples, it’s easy to see why they have no regard for the people they are interviewing.
What is mind boggling to me is how a company can spend months looking for the ‘perfect’ candidate and still end up with a total douche bag.
Perhaps douche bag and perfect andidate are the same thing. I was always taught to hire people not like myself to counter my weaknesses rather than be a clone of myself. But my experience shows that a lot of managers hire people that are exactly like themselves (of course, if you have no flaws, then you want people with no flaws). The important issue to these managers is not doing a good job, but looking good enough to be promoted.
I believe this in one of the biggest flaws in the American (and now International) Business Model.
I agree it sucks not to be told the results of an interview. (Don’t expect to hear anything back about a resume, though.) Do you know how many people they interviewed for this job. Did you get screened? We screen to get down to 3-4 candidates, and always follow up with them. (Our interviews are a half day, at least.) If the interview was 15 minute, I could see how some overworked HR person, half of whose department probably got laid off as a cost savings measure, doesn’t have time to follow up. Wrong, but I see it.
auntie em, I disagree. It’s much easier, and less personal, for an HR person to send a letter instead of calling. Telling you that you didn’t get the job to your face is far more polite than a form letter.
The interview was for a teaching position at a local community type college in a new area. I have no idea of how many candidates there were, but given the number of people that might do it, it would be fairly limited. I have two interviews that day, one with the HR person. She read my resume and she thought there was a great fit not teaching only culinary (it is a culinary program) but since I have an education degree in Math, to teach the intro to math class. This is in fact a perfect fit. I talked to her for about 45 minutes.
I then talked to the executive director of the program for about 30 minutes. And it was a general discussion. She said the next thing was a demostration in front of a class and would be in the next week or so. That was about two weeks ago.
I think I was barely qualified for the culinary position, but have a teaching background which makes up for a lot. The Math and I were a perfect fit.
I’ve been encountering the exact same thing. When I call back, it irritates them. When I don’t they never let me know that the position has been filled or what.
Then they should absolutely get back to you. How good a match you are is not at issue - if you were not a good match they should learn to screen resumes better, and you should hear sooner. When I started working we had two full time people to handle this, now it is unlikely they have anyone dedicated to recruiting. Not an excuse, though.
And getting an interview, which was like getting to second base, is now no longer a guarantee of anything anymore.:mad: