Why do Employers leave you HANGING after an interview?

hello2007

I have had three interviews over the past month and I am still waiting for feedback. I even tried to withdraw my application after the second interview but the employer said they were still interested in me and asked me to come in for a third interview. This was over a week ago and I have receive no feedback.

This has never happen to me before I cannot believe how rude this employer is. I have spent money on travel and have put in alot of preparaton for these interviews.

I am seriously thinking of calling the employer and telling them where to stick their job.

smileylondongal

This is the current market, I'm afraid. Doesn't make it right but the onus is now most definitely on the candidate as there are hundreds of people out there for one role.

Seeing it from the other point of view, when I was a recruiter, I literally sifted through thousands of applications a year and interviewed hundreds of candidates so feedback was only ever possible right at the end of the process when you, say, had 6 candidates to give feed back to. I'd then spend 20 minutes calling each person to give them the fullest feed back I knew how. For all others, I felt the best I could do was to was to inform them of their not being successful by email - a telephone call, as I say due to the volume of people, would have been unrealistic.

But there are also a couple of things to add here- or may be a few! I think it's terrible when companies promise another interview stage as you've clearly passed but don't ever come back. This is inexcusable both as you've built up your hopes and for them not taking the opportunity to find the best candidate. I always feel it's a two-way process and any selection process should make a candidate feel they can reapply in the future and want to come back.

Also, I know of some companies who - to use recruitment terminology - keep candidates 'warm' so the delay is because they've offered someone else and are waiting for an acceptance. All other candidates are kept not knowing until that person accepts. I think this practice is awful and it's one of the reasons I moved on.

To end, feedback is indeed vital to a person understanding where they went wrong and if the recruiter is really good, they'll give valuable and meaningful feedback that will help, focussing on the good and the bad. However feedback is only as good as the person receiving it - there have been many times when I've had someone argue with it or scream at me. Companies don't legally have to offer it so if you do get it, take it graciously, ask your questions but accept the decision.

J_i_m

I don't think I've ever received feedback on why I didn't get a job, and neither have I expected it.

I'd usually get a letter or email, thanking me for my time (assuming I'd attended a interview) and informing me that I'd been "unsuccessful" but no more.

bengasman

gillypkk wrote: »

5 minutes into my first intervew for one job i was told about what would happen at the 2nd interview. YESSSS i though! the manager told me he picked my CV out to show his HR manager exactly who he was looking for and was very impressed and i was ideal for the role then said he would speak to me the following day on the phone.

2 weeks later i finally get an email saying i wasnt sucessful.

An excellent example corroborating my advice in another post on job hunting.
Do NOT send Cvs.
Talk to the man that does the hiring, not the assistant of an underling.

InsideInsurance

It does seem to me to be a new trend that started a couple of years ago in terms of not giving people feedback. I have often wondered if it is a result of the increasingly litigatious nature of our society that people dont want to give a reason etc incase they get sued for some form of discrimination or prejudice. The simply no contact at all after an interview I think is plain rude and inexcusable - I have less issue of no response from CVs

Certainly for the people I recruite or for jobs I apply for 99.9% of the time go through an agency and therefore you potentially have a number of people involved in the movement of information and as an outsider it is hard to know where the breakdown is happening.

For each roll I've recruited for in the last year I have probably been given about 25 CVs from the agencies. With these I have given a simple yes or no answer to a first stage interview. There have only been a few times I have been asked for feedback beyond this and most the times I've given it. Occasionally I have given generic feedback to all the agencies because they're not sending the right sort of people.

From interview stage onwards I do give feedback individually on candidates who dont get the job/ next round. If they are contractors the feedback goes straight to the recruitement agency. If it is for a perm role it goes to HR who are supposed to pass it to the agency. I have no idea if this ever does make it back to the candidate or not.

On the otherside, I did once have 2 interviews in 1 day planned with an organisation as it required travel. After the first one they said they had 3 other roles that they thought I might be suitable for in different departments and would I be interested in seeing about them too. Long story short, 6 interviews in that 1 day.

Next day, phone call from their HR department saying they were all really keen and were going to discuss things in a couple of days. Never heard anything else from them, the HR woman was forever more "in a meeting" or "on training" and never got my expenses reimbursed either.

925dancer

bengasman wrote: »

An excellent example corroborating my advice in another post on job hunting.
Do NOT send Cvs.
Talk to the man that does the hiring, not the assistant of an underling.

Right, you're confusing me now. How exactly do you propose someone gets an interview and shows their relevant experience if they never send a CV when applying for a job that is advertised asking for a CV! Your advice makes little to no sense.

Trying to have a chat with the person recruiting before applying can help but not always possible, have you ever tried to extract company info from a recruitment agent or get past HR or a PA?

925dancer

Also meant to add while fixing my confused face

I interviewed for a job 2 weeks ago, was supposed to have a same or next day response. Spoke to the agency midweek the following week who said there still hadn't been a decision but they had another couple of roles they could put me forward for. Now everyone is ignoring me! I know I didn't put either of my feet in my mouth at the interview to scare them all off so who knows why I'm now being ignored and getting no feedback.

Recruiters market sadly.

LameDuck

Should be mandatory for a company to let all interviewees know the outcome of an interview successful or not. It is soooo frustrating not knowing.

I went through a 5 phase process 6 weeks ago. Promised to let all UNsuccessful candidates know within 5 days. I've not heard a thing - does that mean I am successful or that they haven't bothered to let anyone know?? What price some common courtesy??

LD

scooby088

I find it thoroughly frustrating that when i went to do a half days trial with one company I hadn't heard a thing and then spent a week being ignored by the person that interviewed me when i called for feedback. Had an interview about 3 weeks ago for a job and was told by the HR director they would let us know and promised as much, this was arranged through the jobcentre as a recruitment thing with this company.

I just think it common courtesy that you spend time and money attending interviews that the company can spend a few pence on a letter or a phonecall just to let you know how you have got on.

bengasman

scooby088 wrote: »

...Had an interview about 3 weeks ago for a job and was told by the HR director they would let us know and promised as much, this was arranged through the jobcentre as a recruitment thing with this company.

Anything to do with jobcentres is likely to be the very bottom of the market.
The jobcentre in itself has a really bad reputation with most employers, and a lot of applicants you get through them give the impression they only apply in order to keep their benefits.
As a result, the companies that do work with jobcentres are usually not the best either; they are often of the type that will take on anything with a pulse, or just go through the motions because it is beneficial for them to do so.

I have interviewed a fair few people sent from jobcentres over the years, and you would have to give an extremely good impression to get through the first round if you so much as mentioned the jobcentre.
My advice: look anywhere for a job but the jobcentre.