Rejected application for job with no specified deadline

[LondonTowers]

I saw a job I'm an excellent candidate for (if I do say so myself ;) )

There was no deadline just a statement that said interviews were planned for next week so a few days ago I emailed the contact on the advert just to check deadlines. Didn't hear anything so thought I may as well submit an application. Got an email today saying I'd missed the deadline.

I worked really hard on that application so I'm a bit miffed.

Who would pursue this further?!

They probably closed it after a certain number of applications were received.

Or they have an internal aplicant, and the open advertising is just a sham.

Yep had a feeling it could be the latter. She said the deadline was a specific date and time.....its just it wasn't included in the advert

It seems clumsy wording if there wasn't a deadline and may have meant we received an acceptable applicant.

Good luck with your next application.

Just seen your post. In that case, if it's a large organisation and I was annoyed then I might email HR and make them squirm to write a justification that doesn't read stupidly for running a silly process in that way. If a small organisation then I wouldn't bother.

If there's no deadline advertised then you apply as soon as possible, you don't waste time checking if there is a deadline! Even where a deadline is given, they can close applications early if they choose to.

Take this as a learning experience. Don't faff with pointless emails, get your application in ASAP. Good luck with your job search.

It depends where you saw the advert. I’ve got some job adverts live on jobsgopublic - I’ve been contacted by a lot of people who have seen them on Indeed. I didn’t pay to advertise it there... I assume Indeed just copy and post job adverts from elsewhere, however they’ve got details wrong (pay/location) AND haven’t included the deadline! So if you found it on Indeed, that’s probably why!

I would put it down as one of those things and move on.

@ChaChaCha2012

If there's no deadline advertised then you apply as soon as possible, you don't waste time checking if there is a deadline! Even where a deadline is given, they can close applications early if they choose to.

Take this as a learning experience. Don't faff with pointless emails, get your application in ASAP. Good luck with your job search.

I don't think employers are obliged to set a deadline. They want to fill as vacancy as soon as they have a suitable candidate

But if they do set a deadline, I think they should honour it

@Zilla1

Just seen your post. In that case, if it's a large organisation and I was annoyed then I might email HR and make them squirm to write a justification that doesn't read stupidly for running a silly process in that way. If a small organisation then I wouldn't bother.

To what end? They don't have to justify anything at all. Nobody even needs to advertise a job. There may have been an oversight, or whatever, but they won't give a damn and why should they? There definitely won't be any squirming. Probably not even a reply

Many job adverts don’t have a deadline, I would even go so far as to say most don’t. If I saw a job advert without a deadline I would just apply not send pointless emails off about deadlines.

What do you hope to gain?

I have had jobs in the past where the contract has been signed but policy is that the job still has to be advertised, even if no applicant will be considered.

I'd just leave it and move on to the next. There's nothing to achieve in pressing it further

Moondust, I don't think that's correct in all circumstances. For example, in many UK public sector jobs, they do have to justify their actions and they do have to advertise whereas in the private sector they don't have to but often large private sector organisations have internal policies that mandate it much like they have policies about not allowing family members to work together even though legally they could. In the UK Civil Service, fair and OPEN competition applies to many jobs (Northcote Trevelyan reforms?).

If it was a public sector organisation then it may be the vacancy owner may be trying to favour an internal candidate inappropriately as PPs have alluded to. I’ve personally seen cases where vacancies had to be re-advertised and awarded to new applicants when the correct process wasn’t followed and the line manager couldn’t convince HR to turn a blind eye. The OP said they were miffed so if it were a public sector organisation and no deadline was indicated but one was applied (unless as a PP said, it was included but the advert was incompletely scraped to a different jobs board), this would be difficult for a public sector organisation to logically justify and IME may well lead to the process being rerun. You could argue the internal candidate would still be favoured. Equally, I’ve seen HR then get personally involved to protect the organisation’s reputation.

Thank you @Zilla1 yes it is public sec.

Yep I applied within a short time of enquiring about the ad.

I'll suck it up it's just m I am a bit intolerant when my time is wasted over someone else's oversight.