Recruiters Ghosting

Jonathan_Powell

Hi all
Being unemployed for the past 5 months on one hand has been a blessing as my stress levels have dramatically decreased. With that said, there are bills to pay and I'm quickly running out of savings.

My paranoia is also increasing a little about me being on some kind of blacklist. I have had 5 situations where I have been told I've made it past the first stage or made is passed the final stage (for an "informal chat" with the main boss to be arranged) only for me not to hear back from anyone.

A separate example of this happened last week Thursday. Interview for a sales role which I felt was going well. There was a role play and the person interviewing sounded impressed and stopped the session a little early (in a good way) stating "you clearly know what you're talking about. I'm going to feedback to the recruiter and you'll hear back from us regarding the next stage tomorrow". It's Wednesday and not a word.

I've never been unemployed for this long before. Is this treatment the norm? 

Comms69

Record unemployment nationwide - Get applying for anything and everything. 

TELLIT01

A delay between interview and notification of success or otherwise is not unusual.  If you have heard nothing by the beginning of next week you might try contacting them.  In other applications where you have got to the final stage and heard nothing, have you tried contacting the employer to get feedback?

Marcon

Jonathan_Powell said:

My paranoia is also increasing a little about me being on some kid of blacklist. I have had 5 situations where I have been told I've made it past the first stage or made is passed the final stage (for an "informal" chat with the main boss to be arranged) only for me not to hear back from anyone.

A separate example of this happened last week Thursday. Interview for a sales role which I felt was going well. There was a role play and the person interviewing sounded impressed and stopped the session a little early (in a good way) stating "you clearly know what you're talking about. I'm going to feedback to the recruiter and you'll hear back from us regarding the next stage tomorrow". It's Wednesday and not a word.

Have you been actively following up/asking for feedback?

Jonathan_Powell

Marcon said:

Jonathan_Powell said:

My paranoia is also increasing a little about me being on some kid of blacklist. I have had 5 situations where I have been told I've made it past the first stage or made is passed the final stage (for an "informal" chat with the main boss to be arranged) only for me not to hear back from anyone.

A separate example of this happened last week Thursday. Interview for a sales role which I felt was going well. There was a role play and the person interviewing sounded impressed and stopped the session a little early (in a good way) stating "you clearly know what you're talking about. I'm going to feedback to the recruiter and you'll hear back from us regarding the next stage tomorrow". It's Wednesday and not a word.

Have you been actively following up/asking for feedback?

TELLIT01 said:

A delay between interview and notification of success or otherwise is not unusual.  If you have heard nothing by the beginning of next week you might try contacting them.  In other applications where you have got to the final stage and heard nothing, have you tried contacting the employer to get feedback?

On a couple of occasions and either been given a generic response, a promise that someone wil get back or nothing. To be honest I don't even bother anymore as if they wanted to hire me or progress the interview they would have said. There is one where I regret not following up initially after glowing feedback because I have a suspicion that the recruiter went behind my back and said something to them. 

Savvy_Sue

Jonathan_Powell said:

On a couple of occasions and either been given a generic response, a promise that someone wil get back or nothing. To be honest I don't even bother anymore as if they wanted to hire me or progress the interview they would have said. There is one where I regret not following up initially after glowing feedback because I have a suspicion that the recruiter went behind my back and said something to them. 

So, is there something in your background or references which might be causing problems? Get over the suspicion and find out if that's the case, then deal with that problem up front. 

Jonathan_Powell

Savvy_Sue said:

Jonathan_Powell said:

On a couple of occasions and either been given a generic response, a promise that someone wil get back or nothing. To be honest I don't even bother anymore as if they wanted to hire me or progress the interview they would have said. There is one where I regret not following up initially after glowing feedback because I have a suspicion that the recruiter went behind my back and said something to them. 

So, is there something in your background or references which might be causing problems? Get over the suspicion and find out if that's the case, then deal with that problem up front. 

That's the thing, there isn't. I left all but one of my previous employers on good terms. My last employer I did not have the best relationship with but all these ghostings are happening pre-reference stage unless there is some kind of blacklist pre this stage and someone at my old workplace is being extremely spiteful.

Hopingforthesimplelife

Jonathan_Powell said:

There is one where I regret not following up initially after glowing feedback because I have a suspicion that the recruiter went behind my back and said something to them. 

It is unlikely for this to happen, even if for no other reason it would be unusual for a recruiter to want to sabotage him/herself (they get paid if you get placed).

As far as a blacklist goes, it’s fairly uncommon for this to happen, certainly on any multi-business level and on the few occasions I have seen it it has been for truly appalling behaviour (sounds as though you are comfortable this wouldn’t apply to you).

to caveat this, in industries that are small and well connected close networks can ask for and pass on informal negative refences, but this usually happens via personal connections between previous & hiring company (or in some rare cases previous customers).

TLDR: it’s unlikely to be anything more than a tough job market with hiring decisions changing almost minute by minute - best advice is don’t give up and keep plugging away.

Savvy_Sue

Jonathan_Powell said:

Savvy_Sue said:

Jonathan_Powell said:

On a couple of occasions and either been given a generic response, a promise that someone wil get back or nothing. To be honest I don't even bother anymore as if they wanted to hire me or progress the interview they would have said. There is one where I regret not following up initially after glowing feedback because I have a suspicion that the recruiter went behind my back and said something to them. 

So, is there something in your background or references which might be causing problems? Get over the suspicion and find out if that's the case, then deal with that problem up front. 

That's the thing, there isn't. I left all but one of my previous employers on good terms. My last employer I did not have the best relationship with but all these ghostings are happening pre-reference stage unless there is some kind of blacklist pre this stage and someone at my old workplace is being extremely spiteful.

So why would the recruiter go behind your back? What might they have been able to say that would cause the employer to lose interest? That's what I'd want to know. 

Jonathan_Powell

Savvy_Sue said:

Jonathan_Powell said:

Savvy_Sue said:

Jonathan_Powell said:

On a couple of occasions and either been given a generic response, a promise that someone wil get back or nothing. To be honest I don't even bother anymore as if they wanted to hire me or progress the interview they would have said. There is one where I regret not following up initially after glowing feedback because I have a suspicion that the recruiter went behind my back and said something to them. 

So, is there something in your background or references which might be causing problems? Get over the suspicion and find out if that's the case, then deal with that problem up front. 

That's the thing, there isn't. I left all but one of my previous employers on good terms. My last employer I did not have the best relationship with but all these ghostings are happening pre-reference stage unless there is some kind of blacklist pre this stage and someone at my old workplace is being extremely spiteful.

So why would the recruiter go behind your back? What might they have been able to say that would cause the employer to lose interest? That's what I'd want to know. 

For the role where I had a suspicion that the recruiter went behind my back; I thought it was the case because the recruiter would constantly go on about whether I was planning on leaving the role as soon as something better came along. In short, the role was over £20,000 less than what I was previously on and there was a concern from recruiter I was just using it as a stop-gap until something better came along. Long story that wasn't the case and was fully explained in my interview and to the recruiter.

The recruiter has a good relationship with this company and paranoia was telling me that he withdrew my application in favour of someone else who was, in his eyes, more likely to stay on for the long term. It's most likely is just me getting a little stressed about being unemployed for so long. 

buglawton

Looking at the wider question of the unemployment tsunami: In Germany whole industries have gone into a short-time working regime to spread work around better and keep key skills till the economy recovers. Germany's scheme could easily last 18 months. Meanwhile here in Blighty it's the old big on-off lever, cliff-edge, all-or-nothing situation rather like our first past the post voting.

Perhaps if there was a million-strong unemployment march to Downing St for some sensible structural measures?