To have emailed twice for feedback?

[ClapHandsIfYouBelieveInFatties]

I posted about this last week I think. Three weeks ago I was invited to a rather famous institution to pitch an idea. They asked me.

I went to London at my own expense..took time out of my own work in oder to do so.

Meeting went well. Lady told me she was going to be looking at further meetings "in October" so that could mean any time from now

I have heard nothing back. I emailed them Friday just gone...thanked them for the meeting etc and asked for any news on decisions.

I won't be the only person they've asked...there will have been quite a lot of others.

I had an "out of office till' Monday" auto reply.

So....waited till today and emailed again.

I can't plan my fucking month! I want to know if they have yet to make a decision or if they don't want me to have a second meeting!

How fucking hard is it to email me and say "Oh thanks but no thanks" or "We're still making decisions and we'll be in touch in due course"????

Really? AIBU to have just sent a 2nd enquiry?

To clarify...this is an arts institution. A well known one...a well respected one...a place with funding coming out of their ears for staff...WHY HAVEN'T THEY GOT BACK TO ME!

This kind of thing usually takes a week or two tops. Now it's THREE WEEKS.

Have you checked your spam folder?

Yes.

I think yanbu & you are perfectly within your rights to chase them. How rude! If you have to email them a 3rd time, put a read receipt on the email so you can ensure its been read.

Hope they reply soon

I think it's rude too! My God! They invited me on the back of something else I did...I feel really disappointed. It's not like a run of the mill job interview...it's a "meeting of minds" to put it a bit wankily. An exchange of ideas and a way of working out if we could work together creatively!

So it's rather more personal than a job interview. Do you think they will respond at all? Should I call them if they don't? Say on Friday or Monday?

I would call them yes, as its a possibility that whomever you have been emailing has left or been off sick or is just plain useless :) 3 weeks is too long to assume they are still pondering.

If you phone you are demonstrating to them that you are able to manage your deadlines & are assertive enough to work with professionally & also that you are in demand elsewhere & if they don't intend to work with you then there are plenty of other people who wish to!

I'd call them tomorrow tbh. Update & let us know how it goes x

I'm a bit torn on this.

On the one hand, it's really rude that they haven't got back to you at all, and I can see why you are frustrated.

On the other, the interview process seems to be taking a lot longer than three weeks at the moment. It's prime-time for annual leave, winter bugs, being out of office etc. It's possible that someone has been off and it has stalled the process. If they haven't even had chance to reply to your first email, it's likely that they are snowed under, and it could be no reflection on you.

I'd call next Thursday, but try not to get too angry. The big arts places do seem to reply when they've made a decision, rather than letting you work it out yourself, so the silence could just be that they are still working things out.

Mag that's only just occurred to me...that the reason I'm mad about it is that I AM busy and professional! How can I manage the rest of my workload if they're not keeping me informed?

I may just shrug and say "their loss" to be honest. I mean of course I wanted their name at my back but if they're like this...well...do I really?

Seven I know what you mean but it can't be that difficult. If the woman I've been mailing IS off sick or has run away to Africa, they should have replaced her and her replacement should have read and responded to her emails.

This is one of the reasons why I think phone calls are (nearly) always better than emails. You don't know if the person is off sick, on holiday, in meetings, left the company... Yes I know they should set an Out of Office but it doesn't always happen.

Give them a call, tell them you're planning your schedule for the coming weeks and would like to know when they will be making a decision.

YANBU, OP, but I think you might not be cynical enough. I'm a freelance writer and it's extremely common to get the silent treatment from prospects/clients after:

• meetings
• phonecalls
• pitches
• submission of work
• emails

People can be completely rubbish - and they often are. Rather than getting yourself in a tizzy, you do just have to leave people to it - I wouldn't ever really chase up more than once, disappointing though it might be; just get on with planning your time/workload and then be friendly and professional even if you have to grit your teeth something terrible if they ever get back in touch.

Sending sympathies, though, because it does really, really suck.

I just find it really hard to think that of this particular organisation! They're so lovely normally!

Maybe they're just having a bit of a chaotic time, Clap? Hard to know what's going on in-house - could be any number of things, or it could be that they just don't want you.

Either way, there's only so much you can chase without coming off as pushy (annoyingly!) so I'd just suck it up for now and cross your fingers that someone responds to you soon. You never know - they might be back in touch and full of praise by COP tomorrow!

I am pushy. I'm not ashamed of it either. I wouldn't have got where I am today if I weren't. I see nothing wrong with pushing a bit. Without it you can be forgotten too easily.

I would understand if they didn't want me...but it's terrible form to simply "not bother" to tell me!