Why haven’t I heard anything since my interview?
So, you met a recruiter or a firm before Christmas but you haven’t heard anything from them, despite everyone getting back to work. Should you be patient? Are they ‘ghosting’ you? Should you chase them and if so, who should you contact ? These are questions that often come up and how to deal with this tricky situation is the subject of this short blog.
The urge to reach out to the hiring firm or the recruiters working for them is understandable. After all, they reached out to you in the first instance and opened up the possibility of improving your career or job situation. It would be great to have the validation that comes from them continuing to engage with you. This may also hint that you lack an abundance of choice and have potentially put all of your eggs in one basket.
Indeed, I once went on a very good sales course where the instructor asked participants about what they considered the most important part of the sales process. The most common answer was closing the sale, which seemed fairly self-evident. However, he said that it was neither this nor the sales opportunities in the sales funnel. In fact, he said the answer was without a doubt putting more options in at the top of the sales funnel. He argued that although sales skills are important, success is to an extent just a numbers again. There are any number of things that you simply cannot control or really influence during a sales process. You can, however, mitigate the failures that will inevitably happen by sheer volume of opportunity. Give yourself the feeling and reality of having choice and being abundant.
The same goes for a job search process, which you should think of in a similar light. In any job search, you likely hope to find a firm that matches closely with that which you are looking for, and in an ideal world, you match what they are looking for. You do your best to interview well with all of the firms that you are engaged with. All of this is in your hands. You can only control the controllable! There is, however, little point is fretting about what you cannot control or influence; namely, if the hiring firm follows up in a timely and professional manner. That is, in my view, wasted emotional energy and time. They will call you if it suits them and if you are what they are looking for. Instead, spend your resources on finding new job opportunities that match your requirements and then open conversations with them.
Take a leaf out of the books of actors and actresses. Imagine going to audition after audition. You say your piece, or sing your song, and all you hear is ‘ Thank you …next!’ This is a tough profession where handling rejection is a basic requirement. Job searchers do well to approach interviews and the job search process in a similar vein.
In summary, focus on what you can control and perhaps influence. That includes being super well prepared for interviews, on finding more job opportunities, honing your CV and LinkedIn profile, ensuring that you are findable. Beyond that, let the hiring firm and recruiters get back you if they will. If they don’t, it was likely not the right job anyway.
Factors that may influence the speed and smoothness of a firm’s hiring process include:
Headcount and Budget
If the firm is conducting a formal interview process, then hopefully that headcount and budget has already been approved at the outset of the process. If that’s the case, great. The hire can happen without a hitch. However, things aren’t always so simple. When I was in Executive Search, I did an assignment and found two great candidates who the client wanted to hire. The client told me that he had to delay making an offer because he needed to get headcount approval (which he told me he’d had before we even started). Such was the delay that we lost the candidates who eventually went elsewhere.
Timing
Something else to consider is that there may be a limited time in which the hire must happen. This can be an advantage because the hiring team need to act before the window closes. On the other hand, if they miss it and the window shuts, then the hire won’t happen.
Political Will
The leadership team might not have agreed that there needs to be a hire and so there is a lack of drive to get it done.
Systems and Processes
Many firms will have developed systems and processes to ensure that their hiring is done in an effective manner. Whilst these can expedite things, sometimes the complexity of the system can in fact slow it down.
Size of the Business
Linked to the last point, it might be true that smaller firms are better at recruiting because they have shorter decision making chains and the managers can drive the process at a higher tempo.
Availability of Interviewers
The hiring manager driving the recruitment process will have a list of very specific people who the short-listed candidates must see. This is often the case both for approval and consensus building. If, however, those critical people are tied up on deals or traveling, there simply may be no space in their diaries for some weeks. This leads to an inevitable delay.
Change in Business Strategy
Should the firm be going through a re-think about its business strategy and priorities, then hiring will be put on hold, even if the process had been started.
Business Critical
Focus will be placed on roles that are deemed critical to the business and other gaps within the firm that are of less importance will have to wait their turn. Things change quickly so hiring for a role may be halted if a business critical role appears during the process.
So what, if anything, can you do about this if you are in a stagnant interview process with a particular firm?
First, I think it’s entirely reasonable for you to understand how their process works and where you currently stand within it. Asking questions such as these can help you gain some clarity:
Has headcount and budget been approved?
Where are you in the process:
At the beginning - screening candidates,
In the middle, or
Down to the last few on the short list?
How many candidates do you have in play for this position?
Who will I need to meet next?
What is the process from here?
Clearly, these can be asked in a gentle and diplomatic way.
Second, you can, if it’s the case, make it clear that you are in talks with some other firms, some of which are at a more advanced stage. Without leaning too hard on that, it might increase the sense of urgency, should they regard you as a lead candidate, driven by a sense of FOMO.
Finally, you might ask them if there is anything that you can prepare in advance - perhaps readying your references - so that there are no later admin or due dilligence hold ups. This will underline how serious and enthusiastic you are about the role and demonstrate your ability to anticipate next steps.
There is obviously a limit to how much you can influence the speed and momentum of the firm’s hiring process. I would offer that simply understanding why it has slowed or even ground to a halt can help you manage your emotions. This will help you decide how to best prioritise your job search activity.