Waiting to hear back from a job application..

walwyn1978

Hi all, bit of advice would be helpful.


Applied for job (fairly senior one within learning and skills sector with private training provider. For obvious reasons I'm not giving full details)


Submitted on day of deadline, got an email which paraphrased said 'thanks for your application, we'll be in touch'.


Left it over two weeks. Didn't hear anything. Assumed I'd not got through to the interview stage. Emailed saying 'I'm assuming I've not got through to the interview stage, obviously disappointed but clearly a job of this calibre would attract strong candidates etc etc, would it be possible to have some feedback as to how I could improve my application should a position come up with your company in the future' which I thought was reasonable.


Got another email, saying 'we're still in process, you're still being considered, we'll be in touch'


Waited another two weeks (so now close to five weeks after the closing date), heard nothing since.


Two questions:


Is that level of wait normal? I'll be honest my previous experience of job applications has been where interviews tend to be held 1-2 weeks after closing date for applications, so if you've not heard by then you know you're out. Since it's now been almost 5 weeks, I'm assuming I'm not being considered, but equally don't want to send another email/phone up (don't want to appear desperate)....but I'd like to know why I didn't make the cut. Is there a different way to find that information out?


Thank you.

Paul_DNAP

It sounds like they don't know what they want themselves, and you didn't make the cut because they are having endless internal arguments over who they should and should not be interviewing.
Chalk it up as "one of those things" and put your focus into the next application, hopefully they will be much more organised and responsive.
I once had a request for interview for a job I applied for early in my job search, about 4 months later, and I'd already been working two months and they had the temerity to get shirty about "at least you could have told us you were no longer interested", that was a bullet I dodged, sounds like this is similar for you - would you really want to work for people who can't even work out how to hire you?

TELLIT01

I would carry on looking but not write off that application. Many things can delay the process, anything from illness to holiday to potential priority changes by the employer.

Fireflyaway

If you need or want a new job carry on looking. I've been in similar position. There are jobs that I never heard back from at all. One I'd forgotten about and then about 8 weeks later I was offered an interview. Mostly I've heard 1-2 weeks after the closing date.
Don't fixate on it. Carry on with your plans.

walwyn1978

Cheers all. Am currently employed and happy enough, just looking for a new challenge in a more senior role and unlikely to get that where I am. Interesting that clearly this whilst being a long period of time is not that unusual.

TELLIT01

walwyn1978 wrote: »

Cheers all. Am currently employed and happy enough, just looking for a new challenge in a more senior role and unlikely to get that where I am. Interesting that clearly this whilst being a long period of time is not that unusual.

When I applied for a job with the Civil Service I didn't hear anything for 3 months after the interview, and was then given a start date in the middle of a holiday period I informed them of at interview! That should have been a warning of what to expect, I just didn't realise it at the time.:rotfl:

eamon

I suspect that its a habit that recruiters have got into and don't know how to get out of, probably learned from recruitment agencies. To me it smacks of bad manners, arrogance and poor communication skills.
I would understand more if they had to physically do manual letters & use postage stamps. That is a time consuming and expensive process. For the last decade or more email has been the dominant method of receiving job applications, its speedy and cheap. A reply back is equally speedy and cheap. Even better is a notice in the original advert e.g. "If you haven't heard anything from us by X days after the closing date assume that your application has been unsuccessful".
Rant over.

General_Grant

Also, for the future, if you become aware of a vacancy for which you want to apply don't rely on a stated application deadline and delay your submission if you would be able to submit beforehand.

I'm aware that my organisation interviewed and offered a job to a candidate when the original job was still being advertised on the Guardian website with a deadline of a week later. This was for a one-off role, not where they needed a number of positions filled.

[Deleted User]

I wouldn!!!8217;t worry too much, I think it depends how quickly they want the position filled too.

I applied for a job and the deadline was on Monday and I had a letter on the Wednesday offering me an interview for the 16th, they shortlisted quick!

I would just continue to apply and see how it goes.

theoretica

It is certainly unusually slow, but not unknown If it is a desirable job and had lots of good applicants it can take a long time to read through them and give them all fair consideration. If the people doing the short listing are busy, have holidays or don't agree on who to invite to interview the time can add up. Or something could have changed the situation, such as another employee handing in notice, and they decide to delay while they work out a new recruitment plan.

walwyn1978

General_Grant wrote: »

Also, for the future, if you become aware of a vacancy for which you want to apply don't rely on a stated application deadline and delay your submission if you would be able to submit beforehand.

I'm aware that my organisation interviewed and offered a job to a candidate when the original job was still being advertised on the Guardian website with a deadline of a week later. This was for a one-off role, not where they needed a number of positions filled.

Fair comment. Only noticed the ad the day before to be honest.