to think this is shoddy after a job interview?

Are you genuinely feeling “saddened” @EnterQueene ?

My guess OP? You're not their first choice, but still in the running. Be bright and breezy if you do email back.

I am saddened by the number of posters queuing up to defend employer's shoddy treatment of candidates. How hard is it to send a quick 'thanks but no thanks' rejection email - not hard at all. I can see no defence for ghosting people who have gone to the trouble of preparing for and attending an interview.

Some people are so forelock tugging and desperate to lick the bosses boots it is like a pathology. You see it in the Royal Family threads too - innate deference and servility to anyone with a wee bit power.

YANBU in saying it's just not nice letting people wait on the final answer and never coming back with any kind of it. A simple email that says thanks for your time but we decided to go with another candidate wouldn't be a huge burden on them but it would be respectful for the candidates' time. Sadly, never hearing back if you weren't chosen seems like a norm which it absolutely shouldn't be.

Do email them to politely require about the outcome. Do not email them to let them know your opinion. It's a small world. You never know when paths cross again. Always, always leave making a good impression.

sounds like they had a lucky escape…

I wouldn't wait, just politely chase now. If you've not got it you won't lose anything and if they're just disorganised it might get an answer. If they want to offer you the job they won't suddenly change their minds because you chased it up when they're late.

They should be letting people know either way, especially when only a small number. It’s possible that they’ve offered the job to someone and they are thinking about it, so they don’t want to tell everyone the outcome just yet incase they need to offer to someone else. Or just possible other priorities have overtaken, a crisis or something. Although it’s incredibly important to those applying for a job, for the recruiter it’s a lot of admin and if something more important kicks off, recruitment will drop to lower priority.

not true

You could have a very strong candidate
and then someone else comes along even stronger

This happened to me in december and it's a big company in legal education.

They said I would find out by the end of december and I gave them grace for the holidays and then I emailed them mid january, it wasn't a generic email, it was a specific person who had interviewed me and i asked when they would let me know, and I never heard back...

They always know straight after the first interview if you are successful or not. You have to learn to sell yourself.

This would be weird and achieve the square root of nothing.

are you currently unemployed @LindorDoubleChoc ?

Id just give them a call today, keep it light and friendly and ask if you can have some feedback. At least you know and can move on. Sending an email giving your opinion isn't ideal if you're looking for work. But I can understand needing to know and agree after a face to face interview there should be a follow up.

You don't know what happened, one of the hiring managers could have had an emergency straight after your interview for all we know.

Or something happened at the company that put recruiting on the back burner (sounds like a small place). Sometimes at small businesses recruitment is almost like a side quest "oh shit we need to make a decision". I've seen this before. And is it lazy? Yes. But it happens. That's the way I see it anyway.

It depends how many applications you get - some jobs get several hundred - I think in industries where you know the application numbers are high then it’s accepted common practice not to expect a rejection email at the application stage.

After an interview it’s rude though.

I can remember back in the mid-90's, I helped my Supervisor with arranging interviews etc, for a vacancy within the department. We chose candidates to interview, and he wasn't going to send rejection letters to the others who'd applied. I remember telling him that not acknowledging the fact a person has applied and taken time in doing so, even if they haven't reached interview stage is rude, we should tell them they haven't been successful. I said it's sole destroying to never hear back from companies. He agreed in the end for me to send out rejection letters to candidates and also those who were interviewed and weren't successful.

Unfortunately, the above appears to be very normal nowadays. It's even more rude, when you consider an email takes a couple of minutes to type out! There's no need to type a letter out etc now!! So it's even easier for an employer!!

Why? They don’t care for your opinion otherwise they’d have called and asked for it. It’s only you that will suffer from creating a name for yourself as being ‘that person’. It would be energy better spent sending a polite follow up email today to understand the revised timeline.
When you send your ‘opinion’ email, they’re going to have no regrets about not hiring you. It’s a very immature approach.

I think lots of recruiters are really rude and especially so with more ‘menial’ jobs and with young people.

There is no need for it and I believe in treating everyone decently.

i wouldn’t bother telling them what I think though. Or if I did I would make sure I did it in a professional way and not an angry rant!

I do still boycott a restaurant who treated my son badly though we seem to have forgiven Greggs!

Capitalism has a lot to answer for and lack of manners becoming the norm. It's certainly infected the public sector too. If a process is taking longer than you expected, I'm not at all clear why a holding email can't be sent saying "the process is taking longer than expected."

One time, I interviewed for a teaching job and the thing is about teaching is that due to safer recruitment, you have to supply a reference from your current school before interview. So they know you are looking.

There was nothing particularly wrong with the job I had but I was keen to stop relying on the Tube as there had been a lot of strikes, so I applied somewhere I could drive to.

I was interviewed on the Friday (including teaching a lesson) and there was only one other candidate who they'd already seen (the current post holder was retiring). I was pretty sure I was the preferred candidate.

No salary or pension information was provided. As in, no numbers at all, and you really can't ask on the day.

By the middle of the next week I'd still heard nothing and I'd decided a) if the salary was that good they'd have mentioned it, so it was probably less and b) it wasn't fair to my current employer to leave them hanging.

They rang and offered it to me and I said no. I'd probably have accepted if they'd offered on the Friday night or the Monday!

The mad thing is teaching is a seller's market in most cases but schools still act as though they've got candidates queuing up for jobs and they make no attempt to sell it to you.

I hope you get the outcome you want, OP.

Perfect!

op, have you not thought about the fact that 4 people interviewed and they can only recruit you? The other 3 may want the job just as much as you. YABU.

please don’t send an angry email. You may burn your bridges with this recruiter and there might be other jobs if you impressed them!

Of course it goes both ways - it might well be a sign that an employer isn’t a good fit for you as an employee but they might still be a good networking contact or you might come across them in a different role at some point in the future,

Telling them off for a short delay will just alienate people.

I interviewed for a job a few years ago; it went extremely well, and I was told I definitely had the position and they'd be in touch by the end of the week latest to firm up the start date and salary.

That came and went! Another week went by until I had a one-line email saying someone else had been selected.

I thought it was extremely unprofessional - not only to mislead me by saying I was selected, but then radio silence afterwards.

They called 6 weeks later offering me the job; their selected person had started and left! I said I'd get back to them by the end of the week.

I took great joy in waiting the same amount of time they left me in limbo, and sent a one line email saying I had chosen another employer.

Petty but hugely satisfying.

As the employer in this situation I’d have given myself a bigger window for the decision. So “we’ll probably make a decision by Monday but it might be the end of next week.”

If delayed longer than expected I’d expect the candidates to follow up. Unless there was some serious crisis which had taken the job off the table for a while.

As a recruiter I always phoned all the candidates and gave them specific feedback.

As the candidate I’ve always sent a follow up email the day after the interview (unless an internal candidate) thanking them for their time and letting them know I am happy to answer any extra questions.

Then if their estimated deadline had passed I’d do a follow up email checking in politely.

Ghosting after an interview wasn’t really a thing back then though - which is very rude. I’d stick be wary about berating a ghoster in many industries it’s not worth ruining a potential networking contact.

Immediately if you’re unsuccessful?

I once attended 2 interviews for a company and then I heard nothing back, at the time I was deeply annoyed by this having spent lots of time including filling in forms, taking holiday from my job to attend the interviews etc so I was determined to get a response ...just a no you didn't get the job was fine but I felt my time deserved a response. My persistence paid off as they had chosen another candidate but he then left within a month and they offered me the job. I spent over 8 years there in a great job.

Of course it’s shoddy. How hard would it have been to send an email letting the OP know timescales have been delayed slightly and you’ll be in touch by the end of the week.

And to the poster who said you’d be concerned the candidate would be rude to colleagues, I’d be concerned your shit communication would be reflective of how you treat customers and employees in general.