Lack of Follow Up by Employers

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Posted by Brett Gold on April 26, 2008 at 8:20pm in Miscellaneous

I am beginning to think that it is the rule, rather than the exception. Recently, I have been fortunate enough to have gone on several interviews, many of them being second or third interviews, however, I have found that the lack of follow up from employers to be frustrating, to put it mildly.

I am not one who has a thin skin, but after going on what seems like a countless succession of interviews, only to be met with silence from perspective employers, I do not know what to do at this point.

I am just tired of all of the unprofessionalism and the absence of common human courtesy.

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Permalink Reply by Janet White on May 13, 2008 at 9:11am

Casey,

The reason I haven't had to face this problem even once in my life is because I actually follow my own advice. That's why I can tell you (even three times) this stuff works because I've used it for 35 years and it's always worked.

I have to take exception with your statement:

Generally speaking though, when a person applies for a job, they are interested in the position, so when a company leaves them sitting for weeks, they're losing possible candidates. And honestly, if you're applying for a position, you normally need the job, and companies know this so why are they keeping people waiting?

Imagine yourself as "Mr. or Ms. Bigg" for a moment. You're running a business, you're putting out fires, you need someone who can fix whatever it is you need fixed so you can go back to doing what you do best.

You post an ad, get the word out and attract an overload of resumes. You delegate the responsibility of shifting through the stack to a recruiter, agency, Human Resources person or secretary (in one of my job searches, this fell to the president of the hirinhg company's advertising agency).

Out of all the applicants, two or three are the most promising; the rest you let fall by the wayside. Perhaps your company or delegated person sends out a "Thanks but no thanks" letter or email; perhaps not. You, however, don't give the ones you're not interested in a second thought.

Are you cruel? A terrible business person? Insensitive to the needs of those desperate job seekers? No, not a bit. You're just the center of your own universe, and each of them is the center of theirs.

It's called "being human."

Janet White, Author
Secrets of the Hidden Job Market: Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dreams
www.jobmarketsecrets.com
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Permalink Reply by Brett Gold on May 13, 2008 at 10:17am: How could do qualify a lack of professionalism as being "just human"?

You are giving Mr. Bigg far too much credit for the amount of thought that is put into most hiring processes.

I do think that what is missing in this discussion is the fact that many of us, who are fortunate enough to go on several rounds of interviews for the same position, with the same company, are often met with deafening silence. Janet, how would you explain this away?

After dedicating countless hours to the search, and subsequent interviews, to not be afforded that common courtesy of letting the candidate know that their time was appreciated, can only be characterized as classless and unprofessional. After all, candidates must jump through the hoops like circus chimps to get noticed, however, when it all comes down to it, if a candidate is qualified and has been led to believe that they might be a good fit for the role, I do not think that it is out of line to expect a modicum of common courtesy through feedback and communication from the hiring organization.

Obviously, you believe that we should just shut up and take it, as it is just Mr. Bigg, and the other hiring managers "being human."; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Casey on May 13, 2008 at 4:31pm: Janet,

I understand where you are coming from. It's not "Mr. or Ms. Bigg" who does the hiring, he prompts his HR department to do it for him. Well, if Mr. or Ms. Bigg doesn't have enough staffing in his HR department to send out a simple e-mail stating "We're sorry to say that we have filled the position with an applicant who is more qualified for the position, thank you for your time.", then he might want to put out a few more job postings for some HR help, also.

Despite your "success" through the job industry with "Mr. or Ms. Bigg", this does not mean in the least that what you're saying about the employer not having the responsibility to have a courtesy letter sent out to his applicants, I respectfully disagree.

Now hear what I think is a better consideration. I believe the job industry works both ways, it is similar to supply and demand. The company needs employees, so they put out job postings; applicants need jobs, so they apply for the positions posted. The applicants slave away on their resume and/or cover letter, take hours of work at times on the application, to sometimes not even receive a "Thank you for applying" e-mail from the employer. Now if the job industry runs on a need-need basis from both sides, why aren't both sides treated with the same respect, time management, and professionalism?

Now, I'm betting the only reason applicants still stick around when they receive no reply is because of the thought in our great "human" minds of a glimpse of a chance that maybe the employer hadn't checked your resume yet or maybe they didn't receive it. We all want to think that maybe there's a chance that we can still get the job that we wanted enough to apply for.

Imagine that, huh?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alex on May 12, 2008 at 11:36am: It is the norm these days. Don't know when it started though. For those employers who don't bother to follow up, I will put them in my ignore list. That's how I deal with it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alex Cantu on May 13, 2008 at 10:24am: I've been having job interivews for the past two months and usally the employer tells me when they will get back to me about the position. If they don't call during that expected time then I assume they are not interested. You can only do so much after the interview (thank you letter, call, etc...) but after a week or two I usally forgive and forget.

Alex; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MediaLogic on June 9, 2008 at 10:41am: Only once I received a letter from an employer telling me that I did not meet their requirements.
every other one just stayed silence. I like knowing what happened better than silence.

www.careernetwork.us.com; ▶ Reply to This