Is not calling back or email or even a letter the norm now a days?

I have an email folder where I save recruiter emails, job information, interview emails etc, etc. I was going through it last night and realized that pretty much only one out of four places I interviewed with even let me know "sorry we are not interested". I even have one email saying "sorry we are still interviewing we will contact you when we are done".

I get the no call backs if you inquire for a job but these are places I actually met with interviewed with not just cold calls or recruiters doing phone pre screens.

I would expect if they met with you and you spent the hour plus amount of time in the place that they would at least send you a "sorry you suck" letter.

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wweboy

I think with the economy and such job loss HR people are not making the time. I totally understand how you feel though it would be nice to get something in return even if it is a simple "Thanks".

One letter I did get amazed me it was on heavy stock paper, embossed logo just to say "thank you for applying but you don't match what we are looking for" I thought that was cool but really made me wonder how much they are paying for a throw away letter.

I just started a new job 2 weeks ago I spoke with my boss about hiring and such and she said there was a huge problem with "shotgunning" of resumes. She told me it ranged from Wal-Mart greeters to 20 year programmers for the job. I'm in IS Support (help desk)

tpatt100

wweboy wrote: »

I think with the economy and such job loss HR people are not making the time. I totally understand how you feel though it would be nice to get something in return even if it is a simple "Thanks".

One letter I did get amazed me it was on heavy stock paper, embossed logo just to say "thank you for applying but you don't match what we are looking for" I thought that was cool but really made me wonder how much they are paying for a throw away letter.

I just started a new job 2 weeks ago I spoke with my boss about hiring and such and she said there was a huge problem with "shotgunning" of resumes. She told me it ranged from Wal-Mart greeters to 20 year programmers for the job. I'm in IS Support (help desk)

Yeah I get the shotgunning of resumes and not everyone can expect a response for applying. What I am expecting though is if you actually interview with a company they should at least send you "something".

I interviewed a couple of months ago for a security analyst position that lasted half the day and I was run through three departments worth of representatives. The job I got now where I started at last week did the same thing but I actually got the job, but right after the interview was over their HR called me to explain the time frame to expect to hear from them if I got the job.

veritas_libertas

tpatt100 wrote: »

Yeah I get the shotgunning of resumes and not everyone can expect a response for applying. What I am expecting though is if you actually interview with a company they should at least send you "something".

I interviewed a couple of months ago for a security analyst position that lasted half the day and I was run through three departments worth of representatives. The job I got now where I started at last week did the same thing but I actually got the job, but right after the interview was over their HR called me to explain the time frame to expect to hear from them if I got the job.

In my experience recruiters can be out right rude at times.

rterrasi

tpatt100 wrote: »

I have an email folder where I save recruiter emails, job information, interview emails etc, etc. I was going through it last night and realized that pretty much only one out of four places I interviewed with even let me know "sorry we are not interested". I even have one email saying "sorry we are still interviewing we will contact you when we are done".

I get the no call backs if you inquire for a job but these are places I actually met with interviewed with not just cold calls or recruiters doing phone pre screens.

I would expect if they met with you and you spent the hour plus amount of time in the place that they would at least send you a "sorry you suck" letter.

Easier said than done, it is good to have a thick skin about this sort of thing. This happened to me in 2001 when I was living in Northern California; I was unemployed for 8 months and I must have done about 14 interviews. Only 2 of them answered back with status updates. I personally find it rude and unprofessional when they just leave you hanging like that, but not much we can do from our end except not letting it get you down.

Turgon

tpatt100 wrote: »

I have an email folder where I save recruiter emails, job information, interview emails etc, etc. I was going through it last night and realized that pretty much only one out of four places I interviewed with even let me know "sorry we are not interested". I even have one email saying "sorry we are still interviewing we will contact you when we are done".

I get the no call backs if you inquire for a job but these are places I actually met with interviewed with not just cold calls or recruiters doing phone pre screens.

I would expect if they met with you and you spent the hour plus amount of time in the place that they would at least send you a "sorry you suck" letter.

Recruiters are working a tough market at the moment. Fewer jobs and swamped with applicants. They are spending a lot of time trying to drum up potential leads for new jobs. Don't take it personally. I have had recruiters call me late Friday to tell me about this great job they want to put me forward for and blam I never heard from them again. You will hear back if you are useful to them, less feedback if the job fizzles out for a thousand different reasons i.e client has decided to pushback on the hire due to budgets, better applicants etc.

A lot of hiring decisions are dragging on at present. Senior management procrastinating about signing off on budgets. Dudes don't want to be seen to be spending company money right now which is understandable because everyone wants to keep their jobs. Except for the banks, I believe some are rolling in bonuses right now. Thanks taxpayers!

Just keep plugging away.

BigTone

Thats the worst feeling after you've had an interview you feel went pretty good and days turn into weeks and you don't hear back. At least a status update if you spent some time with the company would be nice. Some times you just need to keep poking to get the info you want, even if it its bad news.

tpatt100

I had one recruiter tell me the position was cancelled only to be told by another recruiter that they were hiring for more that was lame lol.

MentholMoose

I think it's unprofessional when HR doesn't get back to you after an interview. I've had HR not respond even when I requested a status update via email. Seriously, how long does it take to copy and paste a form letter into a reply telling an applicant the bad news? You spent hours of your time to meet with them, and they aren't courteous enough to take 30 seconds to respond? The takeaway is that you probably don't want to work in such an environment anyway.

hypnotoad

MentholMoose wrote: »

I think it's unprofessional when HR doesn't get back to you after an interview. I've had HR not respond even when I requested a status update via email. Seriously, how long does it take to copy and paste a form letter into a reply telling an applicant the bad news? You spent hours of your time to meet with them, and they aren't courteous enough to take 30 seconds to respond? The takeaway is that you probably don't want to work in such an environment anyway.

But what about the big golf tourney this weekend? Cut those HR phonies some slack...they work really hard, you know.

MeanDrunkR2D2

I almost have to call or email them multiple times to get the "You suck and we don't want you" email/letter/phone call from places. I understand not contacting someone that just applied.. But if they made it on the list to be interviewed and they took the time to drive there they deserve the courtesy to let them know the timeframe and if the process takes long to contact them even if it's just a "Hey, we are still mulling over everyone we are interviewing and will followup with you a status update in a week". The whole no contact ever again is sickening.

All it shows me is that I'm very happy that I won't be working for a company that lacks the courtesy of letting others know that the position has been filled already.

Hyper-Me

If i have the least respect for any kind of "profession", it would definitely be HR.

I've met so many complete idiots and jerks that work in HR, its not even funny...considering these are the people who are supposed to be bringing in talent to help the business grow.

My big pet peeve? When an HR person flat out tells me "you will recieve a response whether or not we offer you the job" and then i get no response. Jerks.

crrussell3

I have put out over 100 resumes in the past eight months I have been laid off, and have only received around five thanks but no thanks responses. This isn't counting the two that came from an automated system once the job position was filled.

So as most have said, its the norm now with the amount of work that the hiring managers and headhunters have with the amount of resumes they receive. A job that was filled about two months ago where I am contracted at had over 250 resumes submitted for it.

MentholMoose

Hyper-Me wrote: »

If i have the least respect for any kind of "profession", it would definitely be HR.

I've met so many complete idiots and jerks that work in HR, its not even funny...considering these are the people who are supposed to be bringing in talent to help the business grow.

It is sad, isn't it? What bothers me the most about bad HR staff is when the people handling benefits are incompetent. My health and dental are through my wife's work, and they are just terrible. They've accidentally canceled my policy multiple times (massive headache for me to handle all the denied claims from doctor/dentist/optometrist) and my wife's policy once, signed us up for the wrong plan, over-charged us, and taken months to issue a refund check after we noticed the over-billing (my wife eventually had to get her boss involved)!

Hyper-Me wrote: »

My big pet peeve? When an HR person flat out tells me "you will recieve a response whether or not we offer you the job" and then i get no response. Jerks.

That definitely annoys me, too! But, I guess we also wouldn't like them to say, "if we don't need you we will never contact you again."

tpatt100

Well HR is usually the lower paid positions but have to handle the most paperwork. It gets tedious, my wife works in HR and works in the payroll dept at U of M and she works way harder than I do. When I call her from work I am usually reading something online that is not work related and she can barely talk to me for more than five minutes and I make triple what she does.

Turgon

crrussell3 wrote: »

I have put out over 100 resumes in the past eight months I have been laid off, and have only received around five thanks but no thanks responses. This isn't counting the two that came from an automated system once the job position was filled.

So as most have said, its the norm now with the amount of work that the hiring managers and headhunters have with the amount of resumes they receive. A job that was filled about two months ago where I am contracted at had over 250 resumes submitted for it.

That's about the long and short of it at at the moment. Not too many jobs about and the recruiters are swamped with hundreds of CVs. I spoke to someone about a consulting gig in Zurich on Friday and put forward for it. The job was only advertised a few hours and there were already 40 CV's in and climbing that same day! The agent said it would be Monday before she had a chance to go through them all. Happy times.

zen master

I always thought this was a technique companies used to keep people on "stand by" just in case the first applicant they choose doesn't work out. I guess no one likes to know that they're a second option.

hypnotoad

Hyper-Me wrote: »

If i have the least respect for any kind of "profession", it would definitely be HR.

I've met so many complete idiots and jerks that work in HR, its not even funny...

Hyper-Me: my new hero.

Hyper-Me

hypnotoad wrote: »

Hyper-Me: my new hero.

Im serious.

This thread reminds me of one interview i was on that an HR lady was tasked with asking me a set of questions that related to the job.

She asked me "can you breifly define an authority restore in active directory?"

I wanted to tell her should wouldnt know an authoritative restore if it bit her in the ass.

dynamik

Hyper-Me wrote: »

She asked me "can you breifly define an authority restore in active directory?"

I wanted to tell her should wouldnt know an authoritative restore if it bit her in the ass.

Yea, that's way off...

This thread really took an ignorant turn. A lot of you clearly have no idea of what's involved with these types of positions. Do you really expect HR personnel to be experts in every area? That would be impossible for IT alone, let alone for all the other aspects of a business. I think that even experienced IT personnel would have difficulty achieving that level of versatility, which is within their own area of expertise. Do you think someone with a boatload of MS certs do an adequate job interviewing someone for a CCNP-level position?

I'm not saying there aren't some bad apples in HR, but you're going to find that anywhere. Of course you're going to get some BS fluff questions at the onset. Guess what? A lot of people can't even answer those. That's why you don't just land a technical interview at the onset. Those experts have something better to do than weed out people who clearly don't make the cut. Who knows? Maybe that question was intentionally worded wrong, and they were more curious with how you responded than whether you were actually right or not. Would you politely correct the person or act like a snob about an inconsequential misspeak? Stuff like that is a common practice.

Turgon

zen master wrote: »

I always thought this was a technique companies used to keep people on "stand by" just in case the first applicant they choose doesn't work out. I guess no one likes to know that they're a second option.

They sometimes string you along a bit if that's the intention. At the moment though there are a lot of applicants for jobs so it's just not a problem filing most positions. What is a problem for agents and HR at the moment is coping with the sheer numbers of applicants for the few jobs going right now. Every day the inbox is jammed full with CVs for any advertised job. One job for a programmer was taken down the same day when 250 CVs piled in.

crrussell3

One thing I don't understand are the recruiters. I had one contact me a last week saying how I was exactly what he was searching for for a position he had to fill, blah blah blah. This was a quick turn around position to fill, so I had to get everything done right away. Few days passed and nothing from him. Called and left a message, he left me an email: "Haven't heard back from them so I assume the position has been filled and you didn't get it. Thanks for applying and we will contact you with other positions that you are qualified for."

It struck a nerve that he couldn't follow through, see if they filled the position, or just even keep me informed. I do understand they are busy, but it only takes a few minutes to follow through. Guess you have to love people who get paid commission. Once they lose the sale, they are done with you.

hypnotoad

dynamik wrote: »

Yea, that's way off...

This thread really took an ignorant turn. A lot of you clearly have no idea of what's involved with these types of positions. Do you really expect HR personnel to be experts in every area? That would be impossible for IT alone, let alone for all the other aspects of a business. I think that even experienced IT personnel would have difficulty achieving that level of versatility, which is within their own area of expertise. Do you think someone with a boatload of MS certs do an adequate job interviewing someone for a CCNP-level position?

I'm not saying there aren't some bad apples in HR, but you're going to find that anywhere. Of course you're going to get some BS fluff questions at the onset. Guess what? A lot of people can't even answer those. That's why you don't just land a technical interview at the onset. Those experts have something better to do than weed out people who clearly don't make the cut. Who knows? Maybe that question was intentionally worded wrong, and they were more curious with how you responded than whether you were actually right or not. Would you politely correct the person or act like a snob about an inconsequential misspeak? Stuff like that is a common practice.

Well, I'm not even referring to the HR people reading the script that some tech person wrote

I'm just saying...hey, give a guy a call back as courtesy and don't be so flakey - some people really depend on getting a job, you know?

It's sickly ironic that the people who want to hire good employees, aren't.

dynamik

hypnotoad wrote: »

Well, I'm not even referring to the HR people reading the script that some tech person wrote I'm just saying...hey, give a guy a call back as courtesy and don't be so flakey - some people really depend on getting a job, you know?

It's sickly ironic that the people who want to hire good employees, aren't.

Yea, I'm with you on the common courtesy thing, especially if there's been a significant amount of interaction between parties.

Turgon

Turgon wrote: »

That's about the long and short of it at at the moment. Not too many jobs about and the recruiters are swamped with hundreds of CVs. I spoke to someone about a consulting gig in Zurich on Friday and put forward for it. The job was only advertised a few hours and there were already 40 CV's in and climbing that same day! The agent said it would be Monday before she had a chance to go through them all. Happy times.

Well a different agent in the office called me back about the Zurich gig. Im one of only three candidates they are putting forward for it. Lets hope something comes of this as many companies seem to be holding off the purchase order when they actually get the candidates from the agency. In some cases companies do this just to find out how much hiring people for a project will cost them. Then nothing. Agent and I agree its all a game. Play it.

Still, being put forward in this economy is good news indeed.

tpatt100

dynamik wrote: »

Yea, I'm with you on the common courtesy thing, especially if there's been a significant amount of interaction between parties.

that was my point, I am used to the recruiter thing. I had a recruiter contacting me asap when ever I had a question for a position with Blue Cross Blue Shield a few months ago. As soon as I was submitted for the position all of a sudden the ASAP emails stopped and I lost total contact with her.

If I do actually interview with the business I think it should be a courtesy since you invest hours of your time to meet with them.

Hyper-Me

dynamik wrote: »

Yea, that's way off...

This thread really took an ignorant turn. A lot of you clearly have no idea of what's involved with these types of positions. Do you really expect HR personnel to be experts in every area? That would be impossible for IT alone, let alone for all the other aspects of a business. I think that even experienced IT personnel would have difficulty achieving that level of versatility, which is within their own area of expertise. Do you think someone with a boatload of MS certs do an adequate job interviewing someone for a CCNP-level position?

I'm not saying there aren't some bad apples in HR, but you're going to find that anywhere. Of course you're going to get some BS fluff questions at the onset. Guess what? A lot of people can't even answer those. That's why you don't just land a technical interview at the onset. Those experts have something better to do than weed out people who clearly don't make the cut. Who knows? Maybe that question was intentionally worded wrong, and they were more curious with how you responded than whether you were actually right or not. Would you politely correct the person or act like a snob about an inconsequential misspeak? Stuff like that is a common practice.

Its more the principal of the thing. They are questioning my ability to do a job and they can't even read a script properly. Not to mention that I could answer a question worded in a way that another IT person might understand but they dont, so they mark me wrong. I dont think that silly HR goons should be conducting technical interviews, because they have no idea what goes into any other job but their own (and most dont even know that, apparently)

RobertKaucher

dynamik wrote: »

Yea, I'm with you on the common courtesy thing, especially if there's been a significant amount of interaction between parties.

I agree with Dynamic here and I want to make a point. I work very closely with our HR admin and once she posted a position on CareerBuilder and received over 3000 responses by the end of the day. I understand that doing what you say you will is a virtue, but I also understand that many of these people are dealing with so many candidates it is impossible to keep track of them all.

I expect not to be contacted unless I am going to be offered a position.

And Hyper, I am calling you on this one. You should have some compassion for that poor woman. She was clearly being put in a position she should not have been.

Paul Boz

You guys seriously need to just call back the places you've interviewed at and tell them point blank that you've received several other offers and that you need to know whether they're going to offer you a position.

"I'm calling to get a status update on the position which I interviewed for. I have received several offers from other companies, however I was impressed with your organization and would ideally like to work there if the position is being offered."

MentholMoose

RobertKaucher wrote: »

I work very closely with our HR admin and once she posted a position on CareerBuilder and received over 3000 responses by the end of the day. I understand that doing what you say you will is a virtue, but I also understand that many of these people are dealing with so many candidates it is impossible to keep track of them all.

I agree with this statement, I definitely wouldn't expect the HR person to be contacting all 3000+ applicants. However, I do expect them to contact the 5 people who were actually interviewed. If someone invested significant time and money to meet with you and/or your team, I don't think it's appropriate to treat them like dirt.

Paul Boz wrote: »

You guys seriously need to just call back the places you've interviewed at and tell them point blank that you've received several other offers and that you need to know whether they're going to offer you a position.

I've tried this with varying success. If they take your phone call, chances are they will tell you. These people also will probably reply to your email or voicemail. But some HR staff apparently have a 6th sense for determining if someone is calling for a status update, because I am unable to ever get them on the phone. These people also have no qualms in ignoring all of your voicemails and emails, and assuming you are dead.

hypnotoad

Paul Boz wrote: »

"I'm calling to get a status update on the position which I interviewed for. I have received several offers from other companies, however I was impressed with your organization and would ideally like to work there if the position is being offered."

"Hi this is Joe, I will be out of the office until June 29, 2042."