LooseSuits Thread: Annoyed with Interviewing Company!

Annoyed with Interviewing Company!

CK — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:11:35

I've come across a growing tendency in the UK for employers not to inform applicants upon failure. Speaking to those in my office who are around a decade older (and wiser), prompt replies in the form of a telephone call or paper correspondence were the norm.
Unfortunately, when I first found myself job hunting after leaving college, it took a whole eight months in which to even get an interview. It was a massive blow on my self-confidence and one of the lowest periods of my life.
In stark contrast to this is my most recent job interview three years on. Now I have a fair bit of applicable knowledge and experience under my belt I got an interview for the first and only job I put my name down for. I've never been great in interviews and this was certainly no exception, but I was called back two hours later (about five minutes after I reached my office) informing me of my success.
Not being contacted back is hugely frustrating and leaves you in a state of limbo, especially if you've been successful with one job but are hesitant to accept in the hope you'll hear back from your first choice.
I think it's rude and basic manners to tell someone if they succeeded or not. It really doesn't take much effort to do so.

Annoyed with Interviewing Company!

Bartoneus — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:11:53

I thought everything went great, but almost 30 days later, NOTHING. No phone call, no letter, nothing.

Echoing what others have already said, ALWAYS call back. I've been to a bunch of job-fairs and "how-to-get-a-job"s and the good ones always say no matter what if you haven't heard in a week, or two weeks, to call them and thank them for the interview, and that you're looking forward to hearing from them.

Annoyed with Interviewing Company!

NelsonDesigns — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:59:40

Geeze Mike, that sounds awful.

I think you said the magic word here, and that's recruiter.

Oddly enough I finally heard from the company today (they decided to go with someone with more management skills surprise surprise) but only because I emailed one of the senior members down there directly. Honestly I am just glad they made the decision easier for me....

so irritating.

Annoyed with Interviewing Company!

Mike — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:10:56

That reminds me a lot of the horrible beginning of my interview at Rosetta Stone. This was right before I graduated, looking for my first post-college job, where the leader of their web team got in touch with me about coming down for an interview to work on his team (aka, they recruited *me*, keep that in mind.)

So I get there and am meeting with the head of HR off the bat, and immediately he starts asking me about my backend experience, when I was interviewing for a UI designer job. He asks me about my last project that used Java (um, college?), what interesting things I've written in C (um, none?) and then my server administration experience. My answers to these three opening questions are obviously not what he's expecting so he makes a puzzled look, turns around and grabs a printed out resume on his desk. Then he asks me, hey are you Peter? I say no, I'm Mike. Then he looks puzzled again, looks at the resume one more time, then says, "oh well I think I have the wrong resume... what's your name again?". I tell him my name and he goes into his software and prints out my actual resume.....

This is the very first thing I experience after driving 3+ hours for an interview in the middle of NOWHERE in Western Virginia. Oh and the best part was after the day was over I'm at dinner with some of the team members, and my potential boss says, "Hey Mike, we'd really like to have you on our team but we can't pay you what your worth. Instead, we'll pay you X, what do you think?"...... substitute X for something 30% lower than other job offers I had received. Um, thanks man, but no, I like to be paid what I'm worth.

Annoyed with Interviewing Company!

NelsonDesigns — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:02:13

Oh definitely, you have to follow up with people. I have followed up with emails and phone calls about 7 times now, and still nothing.

I don't really even care about the position or the job (remember they called me, I wasn't even looking for a job) but it's the principle of the matter. If I spent the time and took time off to do this I figure I should at least get some feedback and find out where I came up short or what I could have done better or different.

right?

You would think that when you are interviewing for management positions that pay in the $80,000 + range that you would get more attentiveness in the process....

Annoyed with Interviewing Company!

peroty — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:55:44

Nearly every time I interview...

You get calls, you go in for interview(s). Then nothing happens.
My advice, call them back. Always follow up. Don't wait a month. Give them a week maybe two and call or email them back to follow up.

It seems the current trend in interviewing is interview the candidate then never talk to them again. So keep on them.

It sucks but I've been through the same thing countless times.

Annoyed with Interviewing Company!

NelsonDesigns — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:40:43

Has this ever happened to you?

I was contact by an organization out of the clear blue sky about a month ago to interview for an interesting position opening they had (Art Director of On and Off Line Direct Marketing) so being the opportunistic person that I am I took a day off work and drove 1.5 hours to get to the interview. I then proceeded to interview with the 5 different people for 4 hours! I thought everything went great, but almost 30 days later, NOTHING. No phone call, no letter, nothing.

I find it annoying and sad that a large and prominent organization would stoop so low as to completely blow off someone who took time out of their life AT THEIR REQUEST! I mean come on, how hard is it to pick up the damn phone and say "sorry I don't think it's going to work out"

Just awful.