Why do jobs never get back to you?

[Irreversible]

As someone who has done a fair bit of recruitment, this drives me bonkers. When I've done recruitment, we let candidates know in 2 stages. If they're not shortlisted for an interview, they get notified that they've been unsuccessful at that stage. For those candidates who make it to interview, we then notify the unsuccessful candidates as soon as we've spoken to the successful candidate, usually only a day or so after the interview. It's really not that hard or time-consuming - it's just a standard email we batch-send. This was even during Covid19, we did a recruitment exercise a few months ago at the height of it and still made sure to notify all candidates in a timely manner.

I'm applying for jobs at the moment, and with nearly all of them I never hear anything back. It just seems to disappear into nothing. I obviously assume that I haven't gotten it, but it's so frustrating as many of them take so much time and effort to do, you'd think they could just send an automated rejection email. I think it's just sloppy practice. My mum has also been applying for jobs and three weeks ago now she had an interview, heard absolutely nothing since. I've even tried following up via email with the listed contact for the job, again absolutely nothing!

I know it's horrible. It's been the case for ages now that they rarely get back to you after the first application stage. But I to have been in a situation where I actually had an interview and they never even sent me a "thanks by no thanks". They only interviewed about four or five people and they couldn't even send a quick email.

It's disheartening isn't it.

When I was jobseeking 7 years ago I only ever heard back from those who wished to interview me.

I don't even think it's due to the amount of applicants as many places have online recruitment portals that can send rejection letters/emails.

I agree with you that it doesn’t take much to send a generic reply letting that person know they were unsuccessful. Some people are never happy though- I’ve dealt with some awful candidates who expect the moon on a stick! One woman I remember called for feedback on her interview within an hour of it ending. She was told we hadn’t even finished interviewing candidates yet, interviews were ongoing all that day and we’d be in touch the following day with feedback. She DEMANDED to be put through to me and told me I was stringing her along she said she needed to know NOW because she was going out h ha ha what on Earth?! I hope you find a position soon OP.

The only time I was in a position to deal with hiring for our team, we had over 200 applicants for one position. I wrote back to everyone politely, explaining that they had not been shortlisted. Quite a few started arguing back with me about why they thought my decision was incorrect.

In the end it became more hassle than it was worth, and quite upsetting, when I was just trying to show some curtesy, so I stopped.

You'd be surprised how long it can take a panel to agree on the rankings, in some cases.

Other reasons for a delay include the chosen candidate delaying giving a definitive response. Sometimes weeks. If there are suitable alternatives you can't tell them anything until no 1 candidate has made up their mind.

Frustrating for all concerned.

Good luck.

I agree with you OP. I have spent a while looking for a job and the amount of no replys is terrible. An application for many jobs now takes 5 or 6 hours at least answering the interview like questions and it's extremely disheartening not to even receive an acknowledgement.
Over 20 years ago when I finished college I signed on for a couple of weeks and had to show evidence from employers of my efforts to look for work- how can people do this now?
I also had a second interview; only two of us were called; and heard nothing!

I also don't think it's to do with the amount of candidates applying, as you can send a batch rejection so easily. It just seems to have become common practice not to let people know anything, which I think is so rude given that application processes take so long and demand so much. One application I did a month ago was a video cover letter - it took several hours to edit and record and get it right, and of course, I've heard nothing since. Hope they at least deleted my video

I agree. It was like this before Covid. If advertised by a recruitment agency, I assume about 50% of the jobs are fake as they try to harvest CVs.
I also hate the language used in job descriptions these days. Companies need to clamber down from their back passages.
Oh, and here's some breaking news for recruiters - I don't care that you have free fruit on a Friday.

I don't care that you have free fruit on a Friday

We used to have dress down Friday and free Gregg's sausage rolls in my last job.

I really don't care what the job is or what the company offers - just treat your candidates with the same level of professionalism you expect!

I think they should let you know you don't have the job - the reasons why though are more tricky.

They usually don't bother letting you know after an interview either.

I had an interview with a company, there was a pre interview test that took some hours to prepare, a telephone interview and a three stage interview on site that took several hours.

Despite chasing, I heard nothing.

What's weird is that it is much easier/quicker to send out automated emails to all non-selected applicants than it used to be in the past when applications were done via letter/cv. But back then it was generally expected that an application would receive a written reply, even if it was thanks but no thanks. At the very least there should be something in the application pack that says if you don't hear from us by xxx, you will have not been selected for interview. It really is poor..

I know timely communication can be done, because I've done it myself many times when hiring candidates. We don't generally offer feedback to those who were unsuccessful at the application stage, but we've never ever left people hanging, whether it's at the application or interview stage. All interviewed candidates will also be offered feedback if they want it. But I'm starting to see that this is more the exception than the rule. It seems to be less about the time required (which is nothing, for automated batch rejections) than a culture where the company has little regard for the job-seeker, and as a job-seeker you have no choice but to accept things the way they are - you're a disposable commodity and nothing more.

When I was job hunting I stopped even asking for feedback after interview. I found that I got interviews fairly easily but I was always pipped to the post by someone with more direct experience/was doing the same job elsewhere/was an internal candidate. The feedback was never, ever constructive or anything that I could actually go away and work on for next time. It was invariably "the panel really liked you and had no doubt you'd be able to do the job/work well in the team, but they went with someone else".

Even if they'd told me that my answers weren't specific enough or that I waffled or whatever, I'd have preferred that because I could fix it!

@amusedbush do you think they were truthful? It’s really difficult to provide truthful feedback. We don’t tell people they were no hopers, always just say there was someone more experienced/ performed slightly better on the day. I’m not suggesting you are - just wondered if getting feedback is indeed always futile.

[quote Raella50]@amusedbush do you think they were truthful? It’s really difficult to provide truthful feedback. We don’t tell people they were no hopers, always just say there was someone more experienced/ performed slightly better on the day. I’m not suggesting you are - just wondered if getting feedback is indeed always futile.[/quote]
I had a few internal interviews (I was deeply unhappy in my role at the time so was furiously trying to get out of there) for roles that were very, very similar to the job I was doing. On paper I could have walked into the job and picked it up immediately - same computer systems, same rules and regulations, same deadlines.

One of the hiring managers said he really liked me and wanted me on his team, and asked me to apply for another job that was coming up. I did apply, I interviewed and didn’t get that one either. Clearly I did something to put them off but again the feedback was namby pamby blowing smoke up my arse. It was such a waste of my time and a real knock to my confidence; if he had just told me the first time what I’d done wrong, I wouldn’t have repeated it the second time.

It’s horrible isn’t it OP? I think it’s very rude to be honest! I know that if I had my own business I’d be contacting the unsuccessful candidates and thanking them for an showing interest for the position along with an apology and that they were unsuccessful and a good luck for the future message. It’s the tiny things that mean the most!