Why interviewers say they’ll phone you, but don’t
Why interviewers say they’ll phone you, but don’t
Q: Why do interviewers promise to call back and never do? I’m in the middle of a long job search made longer because I’m spending so much time waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’ve had several interviews. In every case I’ve either been told explicitly, or led to believe, that I was a serious contender for the opening and that I should expect a call within two weeks with their decision. I have yet to hear from anyone.
I consider myself a professional and conduct myself that way. After each telephone and in-person interview I ask, “What happens next?” and I’m told, “Once we complete this round of interviews we’ll get back to you.” And they don’t. Lately I’ve added another question, in hopes of getting a different response: “Will you let me know one way or the other?”
“Absolutely,” they say. “We’ll definitely get back to you.”
After enough time passes and I don’t hear anything I have to assume they’ve moved on without me. In the meantime, I’ve wasted precious time and emotional energy waiting for their call, calling them, leaving voice mails and then waiting some more. It’s bad enough to be out of work, but this discourtesy adds insult to injury.
A: Although getting a job may be your biggest problem, being ignored is making a bad situation worse. In sum: Interviewers aren’t letting you know you’ve been eliminated from consideration despite their promise to reconnect whatever the outcome.
Closure on one opportunity enables you to proceed to the next. If you want to move through this stop-and-go traffic, you’ll have to haul your emotions out of the way.
One way to accomplish that is to see the situation from the interviewer’s point of view. So I put the word out to people who hire people and asked them to weigh in. Without providing any identifiers, I described the frustration that you and many job seekers share. The following five statements are representative of the many responses I received:
1) “We do the best we can given the time and resources we have. If asked, we advise all job candidates to pursue appropriate and available opportunities until they have been made an offer and have accepted it. Their waiting for a status update after each interview, although understandable, only delays their search.”
2) “We understand your many clients’ concerns. We hope they understand that we interview many qualified applicants. Although it would be our preference to check back with every person we telephone and invite to interviews, it is often not possible.”
3) “Many applicants ask if we’ll get back to them and in most cases we agree to, and give them a time frame that, at the time, seems doable. Occasionally we run into unexpected delays (a hiring freeze, a reorganization, or layoffs) that throw the process and timetable off track. We could derail the interview if we were to describe all the reasons we might not get back to them. Rather than debate an unlikely possibility, it’s easier to move forward and hope for the best.”
4) “We need to do a better job of getting back to the people we interview. We get so caught up in our search for the best candidates, coordinating their interviews with our internal decision makers, checking references, negotiating job offers, and on-boarding new employees, that we neglect the people we’ve interviewed but will not pursue. They’ve done what we’ve asked. We owe them the same in return. Thanks for the reminder. We appreciate it.”
5) “We recognize the time and energy it takes to interview. We get back to every applicant we interview in as timely and respectful a manner as possible.”
Joyce Richman is a speaker and career coach conducting seminars and workshops throughout the United States, and the author of “Roads, Routes & Ruts: A Guidebook for Career Success.” You can reach her at 288-1799 or JERichman@aol.com. Watch Richman’s latest career advice Wednesdays at 6:35 a.m. during “The Good Morning Show” on WFMY News 2 at http://www.digtriad.com/business/columnists/career_minute/. You can find this column online by visiting TriadCareers.com and clicking on “News & Tips.”
