Awright, I just want to rant/plea quick. I've sent out a good number of resume's and gotten a few replies here and there. My rant isn't what you'll probably think, I'm not mad about getting no initial reply. I understand that hundreds of emails get received, and it would just be a waste of time to reply to them all. To HR people, I hope most of you do this already, but if you go out of your way to contact someone after they have already applied (phone interview, survey, programming assignment, etc), could you please let them know if you have filled the position or are no longer interested? I would understand completely if the position got filled or I just wasn't a fit for the position, but it's near torturous to leave someone waiting for months with no hint of a reply even after follow ups. I understand people get busy, but it's not really polite to push someone into the gray space of uncertainty and let them linger there indefinitely. To people that do reply in this situation, thank you! You might get a lot of angry emails, or no reply at all, but I assure you that it's appreciated by at least one person.

You know, this is so common that i always figured there had to be a good reason for it.

My guesses...

#1 - There may be some legal thing where if they tell you "no, there are no openings" and then in 2 weeks they hire someone else for that same position, maybe that's legally bad?

#2 - If they tell you "no there's nothing available" but the person they hired doesn't work out, they may want to talk to you later, but you'll have "moved on" and may have found another job?

I really wish i knew too, its an odd thing :p

Honestly, most resumes probably don't even get looked at in this economy, and unless there is some automated system in place to accept resumes and associate them with a position (which there often is) it simply isn't going to be feasible to reply to everyone who sent a resume.

Did you just also post this to reddit?

Anyway... It's standard practice for whatever reason and, honestly, don't expect it to change. The last question you should always ask is: "When can I expect to hear from you". Then, 1 day after your interview send a "thanks and are there any other questions I can help answer" or whatever. Then if the time expires and you haven't heard from them send one email probing for a response; if none, then they don't want you so just give up on that company.

HR hate being bad news bearers; it makes their job sad. I guess all I'm saying is that, yes it's "rude", but no it's not going to change. So make sure that you maintain the conversation and get explicit information about next steps, and be comfortable with failure.

-me

Quote: Original post by Palidine
Did you just also post this to reddit?

Anyway... It's standard practice for whatever reason and, honestly, don't expect it to change. The last question you should always ask is: "When can I expect to hear from you". Then, 1 day after your interview send a "thanks and are there any other questions I can help answer" or whatever. Then if the time expires and you haven't heard from them send one email probing for a response; if none, then they don't want you so just give up on that company.

HR hate being bad news bearers; it makes their job sad. I guess all I'm saying is that, yes it's "rude", but no it's not going to change. So make sure that you maintain the conversation and get explicit information about next steps, and be comfortable with failure.

-me

I did not post this anywhere else. o.O

I understand it sucks being a bad news bearer, but I'd rather get any news than no news at all. I guess they can't anticipate that everyone will take it as well as I tend to, and they don't want to be dream killers, but it really takes a lot of stress off just having an answer. It probably doesn't help being in a generally stressful point in my life anyway, and that's probably what got me to post about it.

Quote: Honestly, most resumes probably don't even get looked at in this economy, and unless there is some automated system in place to accept resumes and associate them with a position (which there often is) it simply isn't going to be feasible to reply to everyone who sent a resume.

did you not read the OP?

Quote: Original post by way2lazy2care
I understand it sucks being a bad news bearer, but I'd rather get any news than no news at all. I guess they can't anticipate that everyone will take it as well as I tend to, and they don't want to be dream killers, but it really takes a lot of stress off just having an answer. It probably doesn't help being in a generally stressful point in my life anyway, and that's probably what got me to post about it.

Yeah, well another way to think about it is: HR gets paid to make the company money. Taking time to call people who failed is not making the company money. If it's a successful game company they don't care about pissing you off because, hey, if they're Bioware, then there are millions of people that would kill to work there regardless of how they treat interview fails (or even employees for that matter; that huge lawsuit against EA? no change in numbers of applicants for positions). Basically, there's no incentive financially for them to contact you and there's no penalty to them for not contacting you and also it makes the people doing it feel bad.

So yeah. It's rude but business doesn't care about being rude, generally. Just ask "when can I expect to hear from you". If you don't hear then call/email and re-ask. If you hear nothing back again then just shrug and walk on. It's just business & business isn't human in this culture.

I know you're just making a rant. and, I agree, people should be nice to other people. But that's really a broad cultural problem. But anyway, yes it sucks. I've been there too and it's irritating, but it's not gonna change and it's not worth the energy caring about it.

-me

Quote: Original post by PalidineSo yeah. It's rude but business doesn't care about being rude, generally. Just ask "when can I expect to hear from you". If you don't hear then call/email and re-ask. If you hear nothing back again then just shrug and walk on. It's just business & business isn't human in this culture.

well said. I will remain upset but with a more understanding point of view. :-p