Job-hunting is like dating.

14 Comments

1. AnonymousJanuary 18,2023 at 10:33PM UTC

   I know this sucks, but I've been the chair on several search committees at this point and usually we are trying to stack interviews because it's so hard to get everyone's schedules aligned.
   Sometimes we can accommodate if a candidate can't fit one of our pre-planned slots, and sometimes we can't. There was one who canceled two days before our last scheduled day of interviews (it was our third set of initial interviews and we planned to forward our selections for next round at the end of the day). She'd forgotten about a medical appointment that took her 6 months to get. I understand - I've forgotten to add an appointment to my calendar and double-booked, so I told her we'd look at schedules and find a new time. The thing is that we had 4 viable candidates to send to the next round by the end of the day she couldn't make. So we didn't find another time that 5 extremely busy people could set aside an hour. I always follow up with anyone we interview, but she fell off my radar because we didn't interview her. She never followed up with me, so I let it stand when I realized I hadn't followed up (when I was closing out applications after the second round). It did end up being a ghosting situation, but it was an organic thing as opposed to a deliberate blow-off. Timelines, schedules, previous commitments (to reach out to interviewed candidates by a certain date) can all impact the flexibility on the other side of the equation.

2. AnonymousJanuary 23,2023 at 12:23PM UTC

   Why do you interview so many people for a position? Think of the time that it takes for each person - are they using vacation time? comp time? missing a lunch? plus the staff time for interviews.

3. AnonymousJanuary 23,2023 at 10:41PM UTC

   When I'm the hiring manager, I typically do a first-round phone interview with anyone who appears semi-qualified. I ask questions about parts of their job history that might be more relevant than they realized, and decide who to schedule for panel interviews. We often have multiple well-qualified candidates and it's not fair for one person to make the decision to cut them. Bringing them in for a panel interview is a fairer way to choose someone who will be a good fit for the role. I'm not hiring hourly employees, and I'm not hiring for entry-level positions, so I think the expectations might be a little different than for some offices/fields.

4. AnonymousJanuary 18,2023 at 10:49PM UTC

   I'm afraid you have.....

5. AnonymousJanuary 19,2023 at 12:00AM UTC

   my new complaint is the famous email where you are told we found your résumé,can you zoom call with us tomorrow?my response is do I need to be camera ready or is it a phone call?they tell me it must be a zoom call. I was in recruiting for many decades and I don’t quite understand the need for zoom calls unless you want to discriminate. not many people are totally comfortable on camera and may not be their best self and why isn’t a phone call enough to gather any pertinent information☹️ it’s very frustrating and I’m starting to get really annoyed. It’s not like an in person interview that I’d be happy to do if you told me what it was for.this is the lazy way of the new form of recruitment.when I worked for a staffing agency, I met 15 people a week minimum, was it because zoom didn’t exist?? partially but, at the same time you can’t really get a feel for a person, unless you meet them personally.and if we’re not supposed to be discriminating and we’re a diverse society, why do you need to see the person to gather information that may or may not be a waste of your time and there’s.Its painful. The rule not to be broken was 2 staffing consultants had to meet everyone who came into the office. I still agree with a face to face vs zooming
   zooming is dooming?

   I decline all zoom calls unless I am under consideration after the initial PHONE conversation.
   if there are others like me employees are losing out on a ton of good qualified candidates. I don’t know what will wake them up.

6. AnonymousJanuary 20,2023 at 1:35AM UTC

   A substantial part of our work is conducted in online meetings where we're usually on-camera, so we do tend to jump to video interviews. I guess I would see this as a good way to weed out applicants who wouldn't be a good fit for the position anyway, though I haven't had anyone decline an interview just because it was video.

7. AnonymousJanuary 22,2023 at 2:49PM UTC

   in 2020 when lockdown first started I had a video interview and it was one way! It was so awkward and uncomfortable for me. I wasn’t offered the job and I wasn’t super interested either. When I had video interview where I’m currently temping it was two way video which of course 100 times better!

8. Lesa Edwards, Career Coach & Master Resume WriterJanuary 19,2023 at 2:56PM UTC

   This is very common - and can happen for a variety of reasons. It doesn't mean anything about you...after all, they haven't met you and experienced your greatness yet! That company has lost out - and the company fortunate enough to get you will recognize and reward your greatness.

   **Siri, play "Could it Be Magic" by Barry Manilow.

9. AnonymousJanuary 19,2023 at 4:43PM UTC

   If you're interested you need to make the effort to be available.
   If you're truly available. I wouldn't take the no response too seriously but follow up with your own suggested time.

10. AnonymousJanuary 20,2023 at 4:43PM UTC

    I'm sorry this happened to you. Recruiters are ghosting candidates as much as the other way around. Neither is acceptable. The job market is a bit like the wild west right now, and plenty of people are behaving badly, as you've experienced. Keep doing the right things, look for other opportunities, and the right one will come along!

11. AnonymousJanuary 20,2023 at 6:28PM UTC

    The market is full of qualified folks but remember you are the buyer when you have not applied and when they pitch you. Is the recruiter internal? If so do escalate to a Manager level person above them, use linkedin to find out who that is, and in a direct email to them (use the same email pattern as the recruiter did- or DM in Linkedin) let them know of his fantastic reach out, provide your phone number to them and give them 4-5 times that you could speak, share your continued interest. I would bet you get a call after that. If it's an external 3rd party recruiter, don't hold your breath. Instead apply directly to the company and let the company respond to you directly, you will cut the 3rd party out and either get a reply or not.

12. AnonymousJanuary 20,2023 at 7:22PM UTC

    Think of it as if that is their communication style. If they treat you like this during the introduction, imagine what it would be like to function with them on a daily basis!

13. Jennie AbrahamsonJanuary 21,2023 at 1:35PM UTC

    Try once more and in subj line cite first name,last name final follow up regarding xyz role.

    I will be very transparent many recruiters are running amidst incredibly lean teams and working 50-60+ hours…it may have gone to spam…

    other recommendation..:did you email direct or was it LI I mail? Just a few thoughts

14. AnonymousJanuary 23,2023 at 10:28PM UTC

    UPDATE: This is a first. The recruiter said he was out sick and was very apologetic. My first interview is this week.