“Life is all about timing… the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable… attainable. Have the patience, wait it out. It’s all about timing.”
Author Unknown
The job selection process is typically long and agonizing particularly when a person is unemployed. Even if a selection process goes as scheduled, it can take 6-8 weeks to select a final group of candidates (from 100s of resumes), get candidates through multiple rounds of interviews with multiple interviewers, decide on the winning candidate and work through the job offer. With travel schedules, organizational changes, communication glitches, and general disorganization the selection process can stretch to 3-6 months. Many candidates have been surprised by a phone call in reference to a position to which they had applied but had totally forgotten over a long period of time and numerous unreturned inquiries.
Exacerbating this long agonizing process is an almost universal lack of communication. I remember interviewing for a job and being told after my interview on a Tuesday that the selection committee would be meeting that Friday to make a decision. Monday rolls around no word; Tuesday Wednesday passes no word. Finally, I call Thursday only to be told the meeting was canceled and rescheduled for next week. Nice of them to let me know! I have heard dozens of stories about difficulty contacting hiring managers to follow-up on interviews and not being notified of negative hiring decisions. Based on all the time, effort, and emotion job seekers put into interviews, the lack of contact borders on the inhumane.
So what is the solution? The best solution is for hiring managers to be empathetic and do the right thing. As soon as a decision is made, let the losing candidates know. Not being selected is bad, not knowing makes it worse. If you absolutely cannot handle picking up a phone and giving difficult news, send a letter or email. If you want to be a real human being, call the losing candidate and give them feedback about why they were not chosen. This will give them valuable information they can use minimally in their job search and maybe in their career and life in general. Why take the time out of a busy schedule conquering the business world to give feedback to a losing candidate? I could give you numerous reasons related to your company’s image and brand, your company’s ability to attract talent, what will be written about your hiring process on Vault.com, etc. However, bottom line it is the right thing to do and you will actually be happier having done the right thing.
Ok, so given that there will still be hiring manager that won’t step up, what is a candidate to do? First and foremost, and this is important, do not take it personally. Companies are almost universally lousy in communicating with candidates- it is not you or anything you have or have not done.
Second, be sure in your interview to ask questions about the hiring process and when and how you should contact the hiring manager to follow up. When they tell you when and how to contact them you can begin your contact with, “just as you requested…”
Third, realize that job search takes a lot longer than you had anticipated and your sense of time is distorted. In the throes of job search, a day seems like a month. When you were working and you set up a meeting for next week, it was part of the natural business rhythm. When an interview is set up a week from now, it seems like an eternity especially if it is rescheduled for the following week, which is not unusual.
Forth, there is a natural tendency to call hiring managers too often and too urgently. Talk with a trusted advisor and ask for advice and direction. An objective advisor can help you be more rational and set up a contact schedule that is reasonable and professional.
I often tell people that job search is about 1000 times more difficult than working. This is true for numerous reasons that will be the subject of subsequent entries. However, for the subject of this entry, the lack of communication and feedback adds extra angst to the already difficult job search process. However as Sir John Lubbock said, “When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace.”