Frustrated Much? ten Reasons you haven't heard back after an interview.

Ashley Marshall

Ashley Marshall

Senior Sales Recruiter for Cockroach Labs, an evolution of the database, SHRM-SCP

Published Mar 16, 2015

And so, you went on an interview and it was Crawly! You loved the visitor civilization, feel you really connected with the managing director and can't await to get started. Mayhap you lot can even say yes to ten questions virtually why you lot should take the job (http://linkd.in/1ClmgJ4), and yet…no i has called.

It'southward been a day, a week, a month, two months; you're starting to give up hope. You just don't understand what has happened. I've heard this tale so many times and as a recruiter information technology is part of my daily frustrations. To assist provide perspective and patience while yous wait for news, here are some of the many things that I've seen happen that take held up the process (for amend or worse).

"Expectation is the female parent of all frustration." Antonio Banderes

  1. A central decision-maker is unavailable. The Dominate/HR Rep/team lead/secretarial assistant/CEO is sick or has a sick domestic dog/kid/pet chinchilla and wasn't at work. At the cease of the 24-hour interval there is always 1 more person who needs to sign off on your hire, and realistically, life happens.
  2. Bureaucracy nightmares extraordinaire. If yous've applied at a big company, the manager that LOVES you likely has 57 hoops to spring through to hire new people. Including getting approval from at least two different people on two different vacation schedules. While they are crossing their I's and dotting their T's yous are pulling your hair out. I've seen this stop a happy hire from happening for many weeks.
  3. They promised they'd call and tell you by Fri… Yes right. Actually hearing news on the schedule the hiring manager/Hour Rep/Recruiter/whoever told you lot is unlikely and should exist considered a rough guess. I know this seems rude and unprofessional, (and maybe it is), but unfortunately they were making assumptions that didn't factor in all of the data. Tough? Unfair? Ugly? Yes, Yep, Yes. Reality? Yep. Gear up yourself upwards for success by assuming that timeline is really a guess, and so you will be delightfully surprised when they call on time.
  4. They loved you…… until they met the platonic candidate correct later on your interview. Unfortunately, you lot have come in second place. The next candidate went to the same college as the manager, has previously worked with a teammate, worked on the specific (projection/software/client) before, or they just in general are more qualified for legitimate reasons. Whatsoever the example, afterward meeting their "dream candidate", they changed their mind about you.
  5. In the words of Dr. Greg Firm, Everybody Lies. That's right, that awesome hiring director you loved may have forgotten to mention you were competing confronting an internal candidate; that they really don't accept the budget approved to hire someone; or that they would like to motility this workload to existing staff. Unfortunately, this happens more than often than most companies would like to admit. It'southward possible that they haven't shared all of the pieces of the puzzle with you for strategic reasons.
  6. Three piffling words anybody hates, you were wrong. Unless you're a psychologist, a man lie detector or a globe course salesperson, you may have just gotten the incorrect impression. Did you talk the whole fourth dimension during the interview? That's often a archetype sign the interview went poorly. Perhaps they felt threatened past your background, personality or general awesomeness, who knows the reason, but you may take just been wrong.
  7. Spud'due south law strikes once again. There was a blizzard; the manager'southward director just quit their task and there is an all hands on deck coming together; a projection had a major fire and everyone in the department is up to their eyeballs in actress work (peculiarly since they are already short-staffed); the financials came out and the visitor lost a ton of money and is going to lay people off….ok that's a lot of drama. That existence said, these are all real examples of things I've seen happen.
  8. You're not very aware of your reference'due south and social media presence. Have yous googled yourself lately? What came up? Pictures from spring intermission 2007 haunting you? By indiscretions at the top of the page? Maybe that sometime boss who promised yous a skilful reference hasn't called them back or didn't like you as much equally you idea they did. This is one of the only things on the list you can control, brand sure there'due south nothing they searched that made them change their listen, including calling all of your references and giving them a heads upwardly.
  9. Their process is intentionally slow. Some companies intentionally have a long process to weed out impatient/wrong candidates and go a handle on who Actually wants the job. They may be testing you to run across how y'all deal with ambiguity and if you have patience. This is not necessarily a bad thing every bit information technology may mean they are focused on finding people who are the correct long term fit.
  10. Even if an offer comes in, you are too frustrated to say yes. Yous may feel this process reflects their civilisation and are changing your mind about the office….and you may be completely wrong. If the offer comes in, get back to how y'all felt later the interview. This process is not necessarily a skilful reflection of the business concern. Take your personal feelings out of the mix and make a conclusion based on whether this position makes sense. If it's been a really long time, it's ok to ask what happened and factor that into your decision.

Wondering how oftentimes to follow up? Information technology really depends, if you lot're a salesperson post-obit up may be cardinal to getting an offer, if you're applying at a Fortune 500 company for an Technology job it may exist a waste of time. I would say following up in one case is probably the maximum that is acceptable, unless you lot have another offer and desire to inform them. Brand sure you lot've given them at to the lowest degree one-2 weeks first.

If you're downward to the wire and have some other offering, i in the manus is worth 100 in the bush. Allow company A know you lot accept another offering and see if it makes anything change, if it doesn't, move forrad with the choices you take in front of you lot. Consider the offer from Company B based on its ain merit, and inquire yourself if y'all want the job assuming the other offer never happens. How does information technology compare to your current state of affairs?

Recall, it feels personal, but information technology'due south just business organization. Yep, this is your job and your families livelihood depends on it, but in reality you have interviewed at a visitor and they are hiring yous to contract your services, it is non a personal attack that they haven't responded. Sure you feel dismissed, merely in reality it may have nothing to do with you. Give it fourth dimension, exist forgiving, and don't put all of your eggs in 1 basket. In the "find a job business" it isn't over until the fatty lady has taken a bow, or in your case until you have actually started the new task.

"Every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to something improve." - Steve Maraboli

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