Please help if you're in HR/ talent acquisition

[Amboseli]

I'd really appreciate some insight from someone who works in recruitment.

DH applied for a job with a big global corporate organisation which have outsourced their HR to another company.

He was contacted by the external HR company to arrange an interview, the HR person was based in the US. He was then contacted by another person in the HR company to set up a time for the interview. She was based in Brazil and didn't seem to read her emails correctly or understand DH is in the UK and was in a different time zone and she didn't factor this in when suggesting times but this got sorted out and he had the interview.

The interview was with the hiring manager and he didn't think it went well at all. But he was contacted the next day by the HR person in the US to arrange a 2nd interview.

But later on the same day he got what looked like an automated email from the same HR person saying he wasn't going to be called for an interview.

Despite the rejection email the 2nd interview was arranged by the HR person in Brazil. The 2nd interview went really well and DH was feeling really positive, and objectively he is a really good fit for the role and was fairly confident he'd be invited to the 3rd and final interview.

But he didn't hear anything back after the 2nd interview so after a week he contacted the HR person who replied apologising for not getting back to him, saying he'd been off work to care for his young child who'd been ill all week. He said he'd be speaking to the hiring manager that afternoon.

He then emailed DH to say there was no news to pass on at this point.

This was about a week ago and DH has heard nothing. The 2nd interview was 2 weeks ago.

The whole process has been a bit weird with the auto rejection before the 2nd interview and the HR seemingly abandoning his job to care for his son.

DH is really keen on the role but if he's being rejected why doesn't HR just tell him? DH followed up a few days ago and got a quick reply saying there's no news. So he's not being ghosted as can happen sometimes if they're not interested.

And this is not the normal recruitment agency situation, the HR is outsourced but is still part of the company which is hiring.

Why would there be no news after the 2nd interview? Are they likely still doing 1st and 2nd round interviews with other candidates and will then draw up a shortlist for 3rd interviews? Could it be taking ages because of summer holidays? Have they offered it to someone already and are waiting for the paperwork to complete before sending rejections?

It doesn't make sense as DH is definitely a really really good fit for the role and while this is no guarantee of eventually being offered the role we really thought any rejection would come after a 3rd interview.

It's the waiting that's so difficult, a rejection would be disappointing but at least then he'd know. He's feeling quite down so if anyone could give any insight I would appreciate it.

Sorry this post is so long winded but it's been such a strange process so far I wanted to give the background with what seems like a chaotic and unprofessional HR company.

Sometimes you need patience.

Did DH talk about salary?

Some times it can be that the job is priced at the lower end of the scale and the manager needs to get final approval on the package.

I had that for a new role they came back almost 2 months later (it could have been that their first pick bailed🤷) but I had just started a job so passed.

Does your DH really want to work for a company that operates like this?

@AnSolas no he didn't talk about salary but this was specified in the job advert so I don't think that's the issue.

It's just really weird that the whole process seems to have stopped in the middle ie in between the 2nd and 3rd interview. You'd have thought they would finish the interview process and then decide who to offer the job to.

@SilverGlitterBaubles normally it would put you off. But this seems to be an issue with the outsourced HR company. Very strange to arrange an interview in the morning and also get an automated rejection email later the same day from the same HR person.

And the HR person to seemingly abandon his job for a week to care for a sick child.

I would normally think they've offered it to someone else and haven't told DH but as he got called for a 2nd interview which went really well and he's got precisely the experience they're looking and clicked with the 2nd round interviewers it really is odd. DH has got his head screwed on and wouldn't misjudge how the 2nd interview went.

It will be really disappointing if he doesn't at least be offered a 3rd interview but he'd rather just know than be kept hanging.

He is applying for other jobs but this is the one he really wants.

It's just really weird that the whole process seems to have stopped in the middle ie in between the 2nd and 3rd interview. You'd have thought they would finish the interview process and then decide who to offer the job to.

It's not weird, it's actually fairly common in large corporates. Priorities change, budgets don't get approved, hiring is frozen, decision-makers/sign-offs are holiday/absent, there are lots of reasons why things don't progress. It may just be a delay in the process or it could be the end. Only time will tell.

And the HR person to seemingly abandon his job for a week to care for a sick child.

I find your attitude here very odd OP. You're begrudging a parent time off work to care for their sick child and you call that "abandoning their job"?!! The world doesn't revolve around your DH's job search. Have some compassion.

You would hate my current workplace. Can take weeks between interviewing candidates, then finding time to discuss candidates, invariably someone’s leave always falls in the middle of this which stretches it out even further. We try and limit to 2 rounds though, but it’s usually around 3 months at that point. Then we make an offer and it can be a week or so before negotiations are finalised. Then contract is initiated. For some reason these take a month (????), but are invariably wrong so get sent back for correction, and need to be chased up, so another month. Then the person signs, and only at that point do we let second round candidates know they have been unsuccessful. By which time, they all say they presumed that was the case and seem (quite rightly) snarky. It would probably be quicker to train as an astronaut and go on your first moon mission than getting your bum on one of our seats.

Priorities change, budgets don't get approved, hiring is frozen, decision-makers/sign-offs are holiday/absent, there are lots of reasons why things don't progress

Yes, I forgot the inevitable hiring freeze at least once through our already protracted process. Our record has been 3 hiring freezes resulting in a 12 month period between first and second interviews. Once one freeze had been lifted and we got around to coordinating calendars, another would hit. Oddly, only one person dropped out.

I don't think this is particularly unusual tbh. Our HR and recruitment process is similar. It's a pain in the arse.

We (the team with the vacancy we're trying to recruit for) are often left dangling by HR for a week or 2 waiting for them to approve something/set something up/press a button their end so we can do the next part of the process. They're notoriously slow and disorganised.

I work for a big global company and you'd thing we'd have a more efficient HR and recruitment process but nope.

I wouldn't say he's out of the running.

Some of this is understandably frustrating (ie receiving a reject email by mistake) and some of this is just part and parcel of interviewing at a large company. Huge recruitment teams including outsourced providers - someone only needs to put a note on a system to trigger a 'task' for someone else which means things get sent in error or not get sent at all.
But mostly yes they are long processes because the many decision makers have day jobs.

@HundredMilesAnHour I certainly don't begrudge the parent time off to care for his child. But in most places if you're not at work you put on an ooo and give an alternative contact which he didn't do. And someone else covers for you especially in a large company which this is. You don't just leave whatever you're doing for a week.

Yes I understand priorities change and perhaps they decide not to recruit etc. And yes time will tell and that's the problem!

@HoppingPavlova yes I've been on the other end of the long process and I know if I don't hear straight away I didn't get the job.

He heard back very quickly after submitting the application and had the first interview within days. Then got the email offering a 2nd interview within 24 hours (surprising as he didn't think it went well and also the accidental rejection email as well). So it seemed like they were conducting a speedy hiring process and I suppose he thought he'd hear back quite quickly about a 3rd interview.

The interviewers so far have been in Canada, New York and the UK. Don't know where the 3rd round might be based so time differences might cause delays.

@dafttomtom thank you, that's reassuring. I do feel it might be the outsourced recruiter that's the problem judging by how they've done things so far. The one DH is in contact with is in the US. I do hope he's still in the running.

@hermioneee yes that's all par for the course with global corporations I suppose. And this is not the only job they're handling I suppose. And given its summer hols I suppose people could be away although you'd have thought the HR might mention this.

He was about to arrange an interview for another job a while ago but we were away when they contacted him so a date was arranged for when we got back. But then they said the hiring manager was going on extended leave for 7 weeks and didn't have time for the interview before she went so it's on hold until she comes back. Presumably if he had had the interview before she went on leave there would have been a 7 week delay in the process in which case why even start it if you're about to be away for nearly 2 months!

The recruiter in that case also mentioned to him that the hiring manager was very direct and blunt which was a bit of a red flag so he's not that keen on that job anyway.

He hasn't really been through an extended recruitment process like for many years and will probably go for fixed term contract roles if the jobs in the pipeline at the moment fall through. It's usually much quicker and often only involves one interview.

Fingers crossed anyway, hopefully all is not lost and it's delayed because of poor admin or holidays or people being busy with their actual job.