Oct 9, 2022
Ever Been Ghosted After a Job Interview?
According to Monster.com even in times when filling openings is a challenge employers routinely leave job applicants in the dark. In fact, they report that a whopping 75% of all job candidates have been ghosted after interviewing by at least one company during their job search. The better hiring organizations will follow up with a phone call or email within two weeks after the interview. If you interviewed in person, even on multiple occasions with several people at that firm and you are told you’re a top candidate, it may take two weeks for the hiring manager to coordinate with HR, and perhaps their boss, regarding the offer they’d like to make you.
Other times you will be ghosted with no follow up other than a perfunctory, boiler plate “Thanks for interviewing” email. Why would any organization that cares about its reputation among top talent in their field do this? It could be due to several factors:
- A senior person at that company that has to approve moving you forward or sign off on the offer is out of town or on vacation.
- They have someone else identified as their top choice and want to get them to decide on taking the job before they take any other action.
- They might have put hiring on hold due to a budget cost-cutting measure, a re-organization or change in management.
While we can all appreciate the practice of promoting and hiring from within, in many cases the hiring manager already has the person they want to hire in mind. Company policy may be to post all openings internally first, then post it externally, yet someone inside the company has already officially applied, has an inside track, and is in the late stages of negotiating an offer. In that case, as an external applicant you might be held onto as a fallback, second choice hire should that offer ultimately be rejected. That doesn’t mean you aren’t well qualified, it’s just that many hiring managers prefer to hire someone they know or has a track record within their company or division, or department; they are a safer choice.
When you are interviewing here are the questions to ask before it ends:
- Where are you in the process of finding someone for this position? It’s good to know if you are one of the first or one of the last being interviewed.
- When do you hope to have this person onboard? Seek to determine if the need is immediate or are they willing to take their time over 60 days considering a wide variety of applicants?
- How would you rate me as a candidate?
- What is the next step? Ask this after stating how interested you are in that position.
- Lastly, a key question is “When may I expect to hear from your regarding moving forward?”
Once you know when they expect to follow up with you it is entirely appropriate to send them an email if you haven’t heard back by then. You can ask if they need any additional information and restate that you are still very interested in the position and look forward to talking again in the near future.
Frank Manfre www.frankmanfre.com/career-coaching
