No contact after interview

[KatherineofGaunt]

Is it just me who thinks it's rude that if you interview 2 or 3 people for a job, you could make the effort and call all of them, successful or not?

My DH went for a "chat" about a job on Tuesday last week (local retail job). The manager mentioned one other person they were talking to later (not sure Tues or Thurs). My DH has heard nothing, so we're assuming he hasn't got it. This is a blow to us, as it would have been perfect hours-wise and the money is much-needed.

I can understand not responding to every applicant, but surely it's just good manners to contact everyone after an interview, if there are only a few people? Or is that how it's done in most places, just go quiet?

We are both suffering mentally and I just want to contact this guy and ask him what his deal is. I won't, of course, but it's like kicking us when we're down.

AIBU?

I've had this experience more than once. I agree with you that it is incredibly rude. If you've made the effort to attend an interview, the very least they could do is send out a generic 'thanks but no thanks' email. Or even tell you in advance that 'If you haven't heard back from us by x date, then that means you were unsuccessful'.

But just leaving people hanging like this is very rude and unprofessional.

Nothing harm in politely following up like "thank you for your time last Tuesday, I was wondering when I might hear about the progress of my application?"

But I'm job hunting right now. I had 2 companies do exactly as above, despite following up, and then another just marked me as "not selected" on indeed, didn't send an email or anything. It seems like normal practice but I do my own hiring at my current job that I'm leaving and we contact everyone and after every interview we call them back to offer constructive feedback. But seems we are an anomaly

I don’t agree that employers need to go back to every applicant, but yes they should definitely go back to every interviewee in my opinion. Don’t dwell on it, don’t respond (other than a polite follow up perhaps), all this shows is a failing on their part.

I always make the effort to let unsuccessful candidates know. And if they were almost there, I offer to give feedback on their interview. I was contacted recently by someone who I’d done that for to tell me she’d been successful in the next interview after taking on board my advice

If it was only on Tuesday he may still hear back. It's been a while since I've done an interview but they usually said it would take around a week so don't write it off yet! (Unless I've read it wrong and it was a few weeks ago but I've read it as it was Tuesday the 5th)

I do agree though that it's polite to contact everyone after interview, whether that's by phone or email etc and give the chance to ask for feedback.

You (or rather your Husband) could always ask for feedback though, email and just ask when you're likely to hear back. I wouldn't go in asking what his problem is but just politely asking when he expects to hear back is fine

I don’t see why employers can’t go back to every appplicant.

Most job applications are done online these days, and if the system can generate a “thank you for your application” email, then it is perfectly possible to write something into that system that when an application is ejected it sends out a “thank you for your application, unfortunately we will not be taking your application further at this stage.”

And yes, not getting back to an interview candidate is bloody rude, and indicative that he’s probably had a lucky escape.

I agree with AlternativePerspective.

It’s very rude to ignore interviewees and doesn’t send out a good message about how you treat people.

I think anyone recruiting should give feedback to everyone they actually interview. It’s only fair to do so. And to do it in a timely manner.

I interviewed for a job over a month ago. The panel were incredibly positive and told me outright that they’d be inviting me for a second interview during the interview. Then emailed within an hour to say that the admin team would be in touch. Then… nothing.

I’ve emailed twice to chase it up and been told they’re really busy recruiting fit lots of roles and they will get back to me. That was 3 weeks ago. Nothing since…

It’s so unbelievably unprofessional. Even if they offer me the job at this point, there’s no way I’m interested. Job interviews are a two way street. And I’m distinctly unimpressed.

The really crazy thing is that this is a highly skilled, experienced professional role in an industry with a skills shortage. I have a good job already. I have other interviews did. other posts. It’s not a ‘keep her on the back burner’ situation.

But even if it were - it’s just polite and professional to get in contact with people you’ve interviewed.

I hear you. I went for a job interview on Tuesday, radio silence ever since. Although my husband can probably win as he didn’t hear for three months once! He was an internal candidate too and asked several times only to be told he ‘interviewed really well but they weren’t sure’. Also they had this totally odd policy where internal candidates could only get a payrise of no more than 10% so the most he could get for the job was £27.5k. Whereas the external candidates (that were eventually appointed) got £35k. DH got the last laugh though when he got a far higher paid job elsewhere.

@ExplodingElephants

I hear you. I went for a job interview on Tuesday, radio silence ever since. Although my husband can probably win as he didn’t hear for three months once! He was an internal candidate too and asked several times only to be told he ‘interviewed really well but they weren’t sure’. Also they had this totally odd policy where internal candidates could only get a payrise of no more than 10% so the most he could get for the job was £27.5k. Whereas the external candidates (that were eventually appointed) got £35k. DH got the last laugh though when he got a far higher paid job elsewhere.

That’s dreadful. Retention of good staff should be a priority. Treating them poorly and having ridiculous policies is indicative that it’s not a great place to work.

YANBU - usually when this subject comes up though a load of recruitment wonks turn up and "explain" why it's fine never to tell people they didn't get the job (quite often bemoaning the fact that 100s of people had the temerity to apply for a vacancy when only 3 were any good). It isn't fine, it's rude , but it seems to have become normalised

@Teeturtle

I don’t agree that employers need to go back to every applicant, but yes they should definitely go back to every interviewee in my opinion. Don’t dwell on it, don’t respond (other than a polite follow up perhaps), all this shows is a failing on their part.

I don’t agree that employers need to go back to every applicant Why not?

It’s incredibly easy to automate a thanks but no thanks reply for applicants you aren’t going to interview.

There is no excuse for not feeding back to applicants you interview. Even less so for just ghosting them. No matter how many applications you had, if you interviewed them, you have time to contact them to say they’ve been unsuccessful.

As someone who interviews and hires people, I think you're being a little premature. We sometimes don't get back to people until early the following week depending on other people we're interviewing.

Also, judging by a lot of the copy and paste applications that we get that have no effort put into them, I don't see why anyone would expect an employer to get back to every applicant.

We generally get back to people who have actually put effort into their application, and we always get back to people we have interviewed.

I agree with Grasshole.

If the last interview for candidates was on Thursday, it’s only 2 days since they finished interviewing.

I have recently been recruiting for some degree apprenticeship roles. After the closing date, I had over 200 CV’s to read and decide on a short list of 10 for first interview. Within a day of the closing date, I had 10 people chasing me for a response to their application!

I short listed, arranged first interviews and then e-mailed every applicant with a response. After the first interviews, I then had to get the managers together to decide on the short list for 2nd interviews and let everyone know. The second interviews take place over 2 days, but a week apart as myself and the managers have very busy jobs and lots of meetings already booked in.

We do our very best to get back to everyone within the shortest time scale possible, but 2 days after an interview is massively premature.

It's quite normal in retail to take ages to get back to an applicant. Twice, I've chased up job roles after weeks of silence for them to tell me, yes you have the job but the process took longer than expected.

But, my teenager has recently been to several interviews and two of them never bothered to get back in touch, so we assume it's a no. Incredibly rude, if someone has taken the time to travel to an interview and prepare, and you've actually sat and spoken with them, for you not to send a one line generic email to let them know.

My adult child had three - yes three - interviews with one company and every single time he had to chase them up for a response. The last time being "we went with another candidate ". That's fine, but the whole process took three months. That's way too long for someone to stay invested, hopeful and primed for interviews.

Employers hold all the cards it seems, but what happened to manners?

I wouldn't give up hope yet, these things always take longer than people expect.

But yes, a polite thanks but no thanks email takes virtually no effort but makes a world of difference. If someone has taken the time out of their day to interview it's the very least they should be doing.

rude - I also think it's rude when saying, we have other candidates to see, second interviews are on X date - and then get back to you a week or so after that; I agree with PP that an email takes no time, whether that's a blanket email to those not shortlisted, or an individual one to the candidates that have taken time out to prepare for and attend an interview.
I took great delight recently is telling an organisation that got back to me a couple of weeks after the planned second interview date that I was no longer interested because of their delay.

Also incredibly pissed off with agencies that don't get back to candidates with feedback - but I am looking for senior level roles, if they are to thick to realise that who I use for recruitment in the future will include a judgement on how they treat candidates, their loss.
Started a new role a couple of years ago, picked up on linkedin by an agency, who called immediately to see if I wanted to recruit. Response was "yes, I do, but given that your consultant X has yet to get back to me regarding a role I applied for, why do you imagine I would use an agency that does not treat candidates with respect?"

Agents can be appalling for that too. They really bother and harass you about a role, persuade you to apply… then nothing. It’s totally unprofessional.

It’s not ok to leave candidates hanging for weeks either. There is literally no reason why you can’t let them know the timescales involved. None at all. If the interviews are taking place over a period of weeks, just tell people that and give a date when they can expect to hear from you. If it drags on beyond that date, a bulk email explaining there’s been a delay is not an enormous task for an HR department to achieve.

It makes the company look terrible if they’re keeping people waiting for weeks with no information.

Thank you for the replies. I'm glad this isn't a common thing. It feels pretty horrible, tbh, and it wasn't even my job interview!

I'd love to know why people voted I'm being unreasonable. In what way?

We can keep fingers crossed but it was a job in a small independent shop, so I can't imagine the guy would still be deliberating. He's the only manager, I think.

I'll ask DH if he wants to send a polite follow-up on Tuesday or something.

I hope that people anybody involved or are potentially to be involved at some point in recruitment read this thread and learn that you should get back to all interviewees whatever the outcome, within a reasonable timeframe.

It is humiliating when you are not paid this basic courtesy and damages the company’s reputation. It tells you everything about what kind of an employer they would have been, too.

Same happened to me, interviewed in December for an nhs post. Got told they expected to tell us by the end of the week. Still no feedback other than it says interview attended on my account. Got another job now but feel the nhs should have better standards

I agree with others that it's quite early to lose hope.

I always ask interviewers when I can expect to hear back from them. Of course, they don't always stick to it but it can be useful to have some sort of time frame.

You're right that you should get feedback but if you chase for goodness sake do it politely or you could really shoot yourself in the foot. We were recruiting recently at work and took the longlist down to a shortlist for final interviews. There was a candidate we liked but who didn't quite make the cut for the shortlist. However we often have people from the shortlist drop out before interview, so we kept the guy as a 'reserve' thinking if anyone dropped out we'd invite him to the final interviews. As such we didn't get in touch with him to give a yes or a no straightaway. He then sent an incredibly passive aggressive email complaining about how rude it was we hadn't told him he wasn't successful - after literally just a few days. Obviously we dropped him from our reserves list .. it was such a daft thing to do.