Interviewing - I made it past the HR phone screen which happened a month ago.

6 Comments

1. KatJuly 22,2025 at 7:06PM UTC

   You've obviously never applied to a public sector job before. It often takes a month after the position closes to even be contacted for a phone interview for the state jobs I've applied to. It does seem that more private companies are doing multiple rounds/stages of interviews the last few years and I don't know why it's become a thing. It's frustrating and overly complicated.

2. AnonymousJuly 22,2025 at 10:17PM UTC

   I really don't think it's common nor is it unique. I once went through an interview process that started in January/February. Just when I write them off, they call me for an interview. And then crickets. And then they call me for a second interview. Again, crickets. Meanwhile, I'm interviewing at multiple other places. I applied for another employer early apply, within a few weeks, I had an offer in hand so called the first place to withdraw my application "but why???"

3. AnonymousJuly 22,2025 at 10:42PM UTC

   Completely normal. My company has a 90 day cycle. Employers have the upper hand here. They can leisurely take their time, add 50 steps to each stage and include everyone including the janitor to their interview process. Employers are in no rush to onboard new hires. It's just this way in 2025. Now if companies were facing a really hard market and a shortage of excellent candidates, then all of this would shrink considerably and folks would be ushered through a 30 to 45 day process. That was 2022.

4. LauraJuly 22,2025 at 10:55PM UTC

   It depends on the company, the position, the budget, whether or not someone is currently in a role - there are a lot of factors behind the scenes. If it's a position you're really interested in just make sure to keep track of the time markers so you can check in with if/when necessary!

5. AnonymousJuly 23,2025 at 7:19PM UTC

   One of the best questions I provide to candidates is "what prompted the opening of this position?". This many times will give you an answer such as the person is retiring. Another question is what is the hiring process and when might you make a decision. If they said Oct. 1, I'd say I'm curious about the length of time from start to finish. Would you mind sharing the reason it will take 3 months? I'd keep looking and if the opportunity works out and you're still interested, great, if not, keep moving in case you can land something sooner. I'm in higher ed and everything takes months.

6. Kimberley Ferretti HammettJuly 23,2025 at 7:46PM UTC

   There's a lot more variance in "normal" these days. Quick hires are getting less common, though. Certain laws and cuts in some states are creating backlogs in background checks as well so my company has been struggling getting new hires from offer acceptance to start date within our 3 week timeline so it's been taking about a month from the time a candidate accepts an offer until they can start.. and that's making exceptions allowing them to start off-cycle which means there is no New Hire Orientation scheduled then, they will get scheduled for the next one. Many companies, especially under 1000 employees, only have enough bandwidth from HR staff to facilitate new hire orientation once a month, so there are specific hiring dates to align with that.

   So all that to say.. annoying and nerve-wracking because it gives more time for things to shift before starting.. but not out of the realm of "normal".. whatever that means anymore