Have I no chance at this job?

[CrispyFB]

I recently applied for a job in IT which was listed on a fairly large employer's website amongst probably a hundred or so other jobs. It was only afterwards that I realised it wasn't listed on any agency websites although many of their other jobs are. They've accepted my application and are "processing" it but I've heard nothing since a week ago when they told me this. Since then I've noticed the job is no longer listed.

I'm now thinking that as the job wasn't advertised elsewhere that it was likely an internal recruitment kind of thing, where it was just listed on the website in order to make things "fair" - so I have no chance of getting it. Am I right to assume this?

And at what point should I chase them up anyway?

I've been a SAHM for seven years and was in my old job for five years before that, so I'm very out of practice with this sort of thing!

Thank you

You might be right. On the other hand, you might not be. If they are handling the vacancy themselves (rather than agency) they may have been inundated with responses and pulled the ad rather than deal with more. If it's a large employer it will have protocols and processes to wade through. I would give them another week and call to ask how your application is progressing.

When I was trying to get back to work after being a SAHM I applied for everything that I wasn't obviously unqualified for. It is a bit of a numbers game. The more applications I had out, the more optimistic I was. It also meant I didn't get too despondent at rejections and no responses - there were always other applications out there.

Good luck - it's a tough task but you'll eventually get some offers.

Thank you! That sounds like a potential scenario I hadn't thought of as well. I'll give it another week

I wish I could apply for more jobs but I'm pretty much restricted to very local ones (we're outside of London) due to worrying about being too far away to pick DC up from after school club/nursery etc. The train line into London is not reliable enough for both DH and me to work there and we have nobody we could ask in an emergency. Jobs in my particular specialism don't come up very often and unfortunately I'm fairly sure I wouldn't stand a chance trying for anything else! On the plus side we're lucky enough that we don't need for me to work financially so there isn't a huge hurry, but it does mean I end up getting hung up on any job applications I have on the go!

Update - I noticed on Wednesday that my application on their site had been moved to "Closed", so I emailed them asking for more information. Eventually they got back to me telling me the vacancy had been filled (no surprises there) so I guess that is that.

I was a perfect fit for the role aside from the career break, and I'm going to assume they weren't completely inundated with applications based on various reasons I won't go into here. I would have hoped I'd at least get a telephone interview. So either my career break totally ruled me out, or there was never really a chance at all. Very much hoping it was the latter! I asked them to keep me on their books but they may not work that way.

I've had a few recruiters show an interest (albeit too long a commute, but it's a start) since a lot of old colleagues added me on Linked In, so all is not totally lost and hopefully others will come up. This job would have been perfect though, which is why I dusted off my CV for the first time since I left! Right role, right experience, right location, right very specific industry, flexible working hours. Sigh!