5 Reasons Employers are not Responding

You know the drill, you have done your hard earned research on this company you wanted to

work for ahead of time. You thought long and hard about this position, you did all of the

research you possibly could on this company, you were just so excited about the opportunity to finally get that interview. Not only that but you put on you best job interview outfit and

showed up promptly and prepared.

Interview time came, you go in with the best confidence in the world. You answered every

question brilliantly. They seem to like you but for some reason when you get home, one day goes by, then a week goes by, and then a month goes by and you are stuck wondering “what in the world happened?”. There was no doubt in your mind that you nailed that job interview. So why have you not heard anything back? In this article, we want to go over five reasons why employers are not responding after a job interview and what is going on behind the scenes.

1. They Don’t Want You!

Sometimes it happens, don’t take it personal. Even though you did extremely well on your job

interview, someone else may have won over the hiring manager’s heart and pockets! Instead of contacting you with an it's not you, it's me email, the interviewer opted to just not say anything at all.

Look at it like this! If another candidate has been chosen for the job, there’s really not a lot that you can do about it. Sometimes there are people out there who are more qualified than you. You can always follow up with an email to express your continued interest in the company and reiterate your enthusiasm for working at the organization and express that you hope to keep in touch in the future but lets be honest, they have already made the hiring decision. It is unlikely that they will change their decision.

2. Legalities are involved

You probably never thought of this one but it can occur. After waiting for what seems like

years for employers to reach out to you, you have not heard a peep. All you want is closure,

better yet, you want to know if you got the job. Though you may desperately want an answer as to why exactly the company passed you up, unfortunately, you may not get one. Many

companies are afraid of a potential lawsuit by disclosing the reason that a job candidate was not chosen for the position. In this case, they will just choose to ignore you. It is much easier for them.

If you want to do something about this, you can try this method. Once you are certain that you

are no longer in the running for the position, consider sending a follow-up email offering to sign a release stating that the information you seek is for informational purposes only. Spend some time carefully crafting the message in a polite and not bitter tone, and let the company know that you desire the information in order to become a stronger, more qualified job seeker. Keep in mind that you may get ignored most of the time but you have to stay persistent. Explicitly state that you have no intention of taking the company to court based on their overall decision.

3. Too Many People Interviewing

It can be true that you were the first person the company interviewed. Companies receive

hundreds of resumes for job interviews so they may be interviewing a lot. If this is the case, it is perfectly acceptable to follow up within two weeks after your interview to find out the status of the hiring process. If you do not hear back after your first email, you can email again. If you still have not heard from them after that, move on to another opportunity, Keep in mind that there are PLENTY of opportunities out there so don’t get tied up into one position.

4. Hiring Freeze

The company may be going through some budget cuts and they may be forced to eliminate

positions. The hiring process may have been frozen as a result. In another scenario, perhaps the company is in the midst of reconfiguring the role based on unforeseen circumstances. You never know what is going on behind the scenes.

There is not much you can do in this instance except for waiting it out and see what happens.

Regardless, it's important not to spend too much time and energy wracking your brain about all of the possible extenuating circumstances that might have resulted in the company's silence. Don’t’ be afraid to move on. Sometimes people just cripple themselves by these positions and they are scared to apply for other positions. Just move on, it will be just fine.

5. They Just Don’t Want to Respond

Simply put, the company may have had a ton of people apply for a job. They simply don’t want

to take their precious time to call you back or anyone else back who didn’t receive the job. Just think about it, if you interviewed 50 people for a job, would you want to call them back only to tell them they didn’t get the job? Keep in mind, during the actual interview, you can ask when the hiring manager plans to make a decision, many people fail to do this because they are scared to ask questions. If they are a well put together organization, they will keep you updated on your status. There are many reasons why the employer will not contact you back. I only ask that you never take it personal by getting offended. Sometimes it is just someone out there who is better than you on paper, it happens to the best of us. Also, don’t get hooked on one position because there is a position out there that is perfect for you, you just have to stay consistent and keep applying.

My take:

As a former recruiter, I tried my best to let every candidate know if they were successful or unsuccessful in applying for a position. One of the hardest things to do as a recruiter is to tell a candidate that the position that they applied to, especially when they are very keen has not been successful. Although unpleasant, I think it is professional courtesy and the least you can do especially as they took time out to go for interviews. I always imagine if I was in their position, wouldn't I want to know the current status? And that is why I always try by best to update them.