Inpatient, Out of Luck, or Just Crazy (job interview response time) (application, unemployed)

[iToast]

Originally Posted by bissit

Yep, sounds very familiar. There are so many factors that come into play which most of the responders have mentioned. But pick up the phone and be straight and firm with them. Perhaps you could tell them that you have a job offer and need to make a decision in 24 or 48 hours. Tell them that how much you would prefer to work for them. Its so ridiculous what companies do. But maybe this isn't the job for you.

Agreed, however this is a really great company and they are highly rated by HR firms so I have some faith in them. I called one of their offices this morning and requested the number for the office I interviewed at and was told that number wasn't published, but that I could leave a message for the gentleman to whom I should speak. I did, but haven't heard back. In addition I sent him an email that was very straightforward and concise requesting status and contact info. That was 10 minutes ago.

Tell me if I am wrong, but if I was identified as the top candidate (said the Sr. Recruiter) then regardless of how often I email the are either going to hire or not. Fair assertion? I intend to start sending 2 a day until I get a response one way or the next let me know if this is a bad plan.

[Racelady88]

If I was receiving multiple e-mails per day I would think you were a major pest and would re-think weather I wanted that type of personality working for me. You have made more than sufficient attempt to follow up, the ball is in their court now.

As the others have said, keep looking. Just because you reeeeealy want to work for them is no reason to limit your options or to bug the crap out of everyone.

[iToast]

I have been very patient with them and only sent 1 email per week if at all as to keep from appearing anxious which I think is very reasonable. I finally got fed up this morning and called the aforementioned office and left the message followed by the email and received the following response. "[Name withheld] will be getting in touch with you as soon as possible." This was in my email about an hour ago so I hope this is good news. I emailed that rep back and said thanks for the prompt response and that I would contact her if I hadn't heard from the other gentleman. I also sent her another email with a direct line cell phone number which I don't think is too extreme. I wonder how soon ASAP is?

[nebulous1]

Originally Posted by Evey

If I was receiving multiple e-mails per day I would think you were a major pest and would re-think weather I wanted that type of personality working for me. You have made more than sufficient attempt to follow up, the ball is in their court now.

As the others have said, keep looking. Just because you reeeeealy want to work for them is no reason to limit your options or to bug the crap out of everyone.

This is true. If there have been several attempts to recommunicate, and nothing is happening, the best thing is to move on and keep looking.
They do that...too...they might have you interested and be looking to see if they can get anyone else before they hire you.

[WitchDoctor]

I think the point is that they shouldn't treat someone like that. It is one thing to be told what the holdup is. It is quite another for a direct and simple question to be ignored.

If you are prepared to move on anyway, then annoy the hell out of everyone in the building and maybe even let senior management know what is going on. If nothing else, it'll give you some satisfaction. These HR people need to understand that the people that want to come to work for their company are part of production. The HR department is overhead.

[RobRiguez]

I interviewd for what I feel is my dream job (close to home, exciting new projects, possibility of running my own department, great pay and benefits, great people, etc) that was with the HR rep back in Dec '07. A month later they call be back for a followup interview with managers of the programming and support departments and the director of IT. Then 2 weeks later I get a call to mee with the president of the company. ALL had said how great it was to find someone so well qualified. That it seems like a perfect fit with my knowledge and experience there would be little to no "getting up to speed". The President made me an offer 20k over what I expected and told me I should be hearing from HR to finalize paperwork by weeks end. Another week went by and nothing. l checked back in with HR and they told me the president was on vacation and would be back in a wek. I check in with the headhunter that put me onto the company and they said the company was still interviewing. Same day I receive an email from the lady I first interviewed with in HR apologising for the delay but that they will be making a decision soon. A decision soon? I was already made an offer from the president of the company!!!!

I have continued to look for the right fit for another job but I am currently employed and am not desperate to leave but I AM looking for something better. I still have not heard anythingback from this company almost 3 months later other then they still have not made a decision. When I last spoke to the recruiter he said I was the last candidate they had sent over because the feedback was so overwhelmingly positive they thought for sure I had the job.

If these guys do call me back i will have to seriously consider whether I still want to work there. If they are like this now, how are they ging to be with other decisions and how do they treat their existing employees behind the scenes.

Good luck out there guys, its a jungle!

[Briolat21]

At your first post - after multiple interviews, and mulitple discussions - you were just over a week out from the final interview - and you're freaking out this bad already??

I don't know how big a company this is - but my last company (major fortune 500 player) took MONTHS to interview all appropriate candidates for the job. So if you were the top candidate, and they had a #2 and #3 - its possible it took a little longer to get those scheduled.

Also, sometimes companies want to complete part of a background check before they even make a verbal offer.

If you have another job offer, or want to bluff you can try to force their hand - but be ready for the fact that they might say no.

And - if you're being this pushy now about trying to get the info - you're looking desperate.

Eager and enthusiastic is the first follow-up. The second is worried, and the third is a bit on the psycho side.

Calm down, and good luck!

[iToast]

Originally Posted by Briolat21

At your first post - after multiple interviews, and mulitple discussions - you were just over a week out from the final interview - and you're freaking out this bad already??

I don't know how big a company this is - but my last company (major fortune 500 player) took MONTHS to interview all appropriate candidates for the job. So if you were the top candidate, and they had a #2 and #3 - its possible it took a little longer to get those scheduled.

Also, sometimes companies want to complete part of a background check before they even make a verbal offer.

If you have another job offer, or want to bluff you can try to force their hand - but be ready for the fact that they might say no.

And - if you're being this pushy now about trying to get the info - you're looking desperate.

Eager and enthusiastic is the first follow-up. The second is worried, and the third is a bit on the psycho side.

Calm down, and good luck!

While I do understand your position on this I did want to disclose a couple of things as there have been some new developments.

-Called the HR Rep this morning and told her I hadn't heard from the HR Guy that was supposed to call.
-HR Guy didn't call, but sent an email containing a thanks but no thanks message for an entirely different position.
-Called back and told the HR Rep that the Job description didn't match and that I had already received a thanks but no thanks message prior to my interview and that this one was merely a copy of that same letter.
-Received another email less than ten minutes later from the HR Guy which still had the same description in the thanks but no thanks message, but the right job id code (the are organized via a code system i.e. J1234-1034).
-I sent an individually written thank you letter to all of the representatives that I had dealt with telling them that I was disappointed that I was not chosen as the candidate for the position, but that I was steadfast in the belief that my skills and knowledge as well as belief in their company's mission were an exact fit and that I would apply for new positions that matched my credentials as they became available.

Then I stopped and thought for a split second about some factors.

1. Their Senior Recruiter had told me that "Everything was great across the board." I had achieved a perfect score on my technical aptitude exam and that this other interview was only there to familiarize myself with the other IT Manager. I had "Not missed a single interviewing detail (Thank you letters, follow ups, etc.)"
2. The manager for the department I am prospect to work under added me to his linkedin.com network which is pretty good considering that he only talked to me two times.
3. I expressed the details about the company that both interviewers (in person interviewers) said they didn't even know. This was a common thread that made this a very enjoyable in person interview.
4. They ran my background checks and called all of my references. (Of course I had prepared the references and made sure that my background check was clean)
5. The last interviewer despite being intimidating said that the HR Guy I was going to talk to was going to call just to get salary details and benefits. The decision had already been made.


According to their web site the background check and reference check is the last part before they extend their offer to the candidate.
Thusly I firmly believe that a mistake was made and that when the HR Guy got the email from the HR Rep stating I was checking he probably just copy and pasted the rejection letter into his email and kept his default signature and upon hearing that they didn't match the position I interviewed for just pasted the different job code into the email leaving the written description alone. Probably because he was busy.

In any case what I have done was made specific mention in the emails that I was not selected, which, hopefully when received by the interviewers (in person and over the phone) of whom I have developed a great rapport with will raise the red flag and say "Hey we said we wanted to hire this guy!" Solving this whole mess. In addition I will be calling the HR Rep tomorrow to get a real answer instead of a less than 10 minute copy paste response as generally after a total of 5 interviews a company (especially one like this which is in a coveted Top 100 employer list) doesn't send that sort of rejection letter. Generally in my experience they'll detail what it was that cost you the position.

I may be insane, but you do not understand the veracity of my want to work for this company. Also note this entire time I have had interviews with other companies and haven't stopped searching and have turned down many just waiting for this position. As I am not unemployed I can afford to continue to wait at the cost of my happiness in the workplace.

[b75]

It does sound a bit odd. It can't hurt to speak to the HR rep reference your last conversation regarding what he had said re: the next step and ask if there was a miscommunication. If not, ask him what happened or why there was a misinterpretation. You really aren't going to be able to push it too much so be prepared with one possibly two well phrased succinct questions to hopefully get proper clarification for yourself. Big companies that can be good places to work often take awhile to get back to people.

Originally Posted by iToast

While I do understand your position on this I did want to disclose a couple of things as there have been some new developments.

-Called the HR Rep this morning and told her I hadn't heard from the HR Guy that was supposed to call.
-HR Guy didn't call, but sent an email containing a thanks but no thanks message for an entirely different position.
-Called back and told the HR Rep that the Job description didn't match and that I had already received a thanks but no thanks message prior to my interview and that this one was merely a copy of that same letter.
-Received another email less than ten minutes later from the HR Guy which still had the same description in the thanks but no thanks message, but the right job id code (the are organized via a code system i.e. J1234-1034).
-I sent an individually written thank you letter to all of the representatives that I had dealt with telling them that I was disappointed that I was not chosen as the candidate for the position, but that I was steadfast in the belief that my skills and knowledge as well as belief in their company's mission were an exact fit and that I would apply for new positions that matched my credentials as they became available.

Then I stopped and thought for a split second about some factors.

1. Their Senior Recruiter had told me that "Everything was great across the board." I had achieved a perfect score on my technical aptitude exam and that this other interview was only there to familiarize myself with the other IT Manager. I had "Not missed a single interviewing detail (Thank you letters, follow ups, etc.)"
2. The manager for the department I am prospect to work under added me to his linkedin.com network which is pretty good considering that he only talked to me two times.
3. I expressed the details about the company that both interviewers (in person interviewers) said they didn't even know. This was a common thread that made this a very enjoyable in person interview.
4. They ran my background checks and called all of my references. (Of course I had prepared the references and made sure that my background check was clean)
5. The last interviewer despite being intimidating said that the HR Guy I was going to talk to was going to call just to get salary details and benefits. The decision had already been made.


According to their web site the background check and reference check is the last part before they extend their offer to the candidate.
Thusly I firmly believe that a mistake was made and that when the HR Guy got the email from the HR Rep stating I was checking he probably just copy and pasted the rejection letter into his email and kept his default signature and upon hearing that they didn't match the position I interviewed for just pasted the different job code into the email leaving the written description alone. Probably because he was busy.

In any case what I have done was made specific mention in the emails that I was not selected, which, hopefully when received by the interviewers (in person and over the phone) of whom I have developed a great rapport with will raise the red flag and say "Hey we said we wanted to hire this guy!" Solving this whole mess. In addition I will be calling the HR Rep tomorrow to get a real answer instead of a less than 10 minute copy paste response as generally after a total of 5 interviews a company (especially one like this which is in a coveted Top 100 employer list) doesn't send that sort of rejection letter. Generally in my experience they'll detail what it was that cost you the position.

I may be insane, but you do not understand the veracity of my want to work for this company. Also note this entire time I have had interviews with other companies and haven't stopped searching and have turned down many just waiting for this position. As I am not unemployed I can afford to continue to wait at the cost of my happiness in the workplace.

[iToast]

Quite so and the fact that I have yet to receive a thanks but no thanks letter from the automated HR system means they haven't punched "no" to my application yet.