Office Professional Plus 2007 blog apr-s-interview

Frighteningly enough, this situation seems most prevalent in today’s market. You take the time to give an interview (either in-person or via phone) with a company or recruiter, and then you never hear anything back. No result at all. No “go away … we don’t like you.” Nothing. It feels really bad. My advice on this one? Don’t accept the silent treatment from a company unless your expectations were set as such. Setting expectations should be the responsibility of the recruiter or company, but often this doesn’t happen appropriately. Unfortunately, ensuring you understand the “next step” in the process is something you need to drive proactively. And don’t be afraid to do so. At the end of every interview I conduct – be it in-person or via phone -, I’ll take a couple minutes to explain the next step in the process. For phone interviews, I commit to sending the candidate a result (or at least an update, if I don’t have a definite result) sometime within the next week. For some recruiters, that timeline is 3 days; for others it is 2 weeks. Regardless, the recruiter should give you some type of timeline. Some recruiters don’t tell you about next steps though. That may be because they don’t follow a standard practice, don’t intend to follow-up, or simply forgot to tell you about the next steps. If the recruiter doesn’t discuss a timeframe, you should ask for one: “When do you think you’ll have a result?” At this, the recruiter will generally tell you a timeframe. You should then ensure you understand how the two of you will communicate moving forward: “You said you’ll have a result within the next 4 days. Are you going to follow-up with me, or should I follow-up with you?” Still other recruiters never intend to turn you down if the answer is No, but again, you should drive them to set your expectations appropriately. They might tell you if you haven’t heard from them within a week, then assume you weren’t a match for the role. Now, at least you know. My Recruiter said she’d follow-up in 5 days but I never heard back. Ok – this is the circumstance where the recruiter actually committed to a timeline AND committed to driving that communication back to the candidate. In this case, DO NOT ACCEPT “RADIO SILENCE!” Three possible reasons for this lack of communication pop out at me here: 1) You are not a match for the position, and the recruiter neglected to inform you, for whatever reason. (Most likely scenario … but still inexcusable, IMHO.) 2) Your record got lost in the shuffle, and the recruiter forgot to inform you of next steps. I threw this one in because if any candidate has never heard back from me, this is why. I use Outlook folders to handle my candidate workflow. After an interview, I drag a candidate from “Interview Pending” to the “For Review” stage. I know the candidates sitting in “For Review” require an update so I’ll keep those in my queue until I can drag their folder to the next step. But sometimes I drag folders incorrectly. It’s just a simple mouse click, and all of a sudden a candidate’s folder may be in the wrong stage of the workflow. And I work with lots of candidates and lots of folders so I may forget someone. Total user error. If this happens to me, I’m sure this happens to others. 3) Your recruiter no longer works at the company or has taken an extended leave/vacation. I laugh at this one a bit, but believe me, I hear this all the time. I’ll talk to someone and they’ll say, ‘You know, I had this great interview with Joe Schmo recruiter a few months ago, and I never heard back.” Well, there aren’t that many recruiters at Microsoft, and being the gossip queen I am, I’m usually pretty abreast of the latest happenings. And when I hear this, I say, “Oh! Joe Schmo took a new job and no longer works in Recruiting! Send me your resume!” And so many times, the person has a GREAT resume. Moral of the story? If someone leaves a company or takes extended leave, oftentimes their work (and pending candidates) gets lost in the shuffle, too. How do you handle a MIA recruiter? If the recruiter promised you a result in a certain timeframe and failed to deliver, here are the steps I recommend: Give you recruiter the allotted, agreed-upon timeframe – plus one extra day - and then contact him/her for an update. This isn’t pushy at all. Just a good reminder. Yeah, the recruiter might just be busy and plans on getting to you, but it’s not unreasonable to check in. I would suggest sending an e-mail that says: Hi Recruiter X – I enjoyed (speaking/meeting) with you last week. You mentioned you’d have a result or update for me within (timeframe), and I wanted to check-in with you. If Reason 2 were the case (Recruiter misfiled your info), you were just found and now back on track! You may also get an “out of office” reply which would indicate why you have not heard back. Ok – no response. Give your recruiter three more business days, and send another e-mail on top of your original e-mail: Hi Recruiter X – I still have not heard a result. Do you have any updates for me? Still no response? Oh, geez. I’d suggest waiting another three or four business days, and then send one more additional e-mail, plus a follow-up phone call. Hi Recruiter X – It’s me again. Do you have any updates? I’d like to know the next step in the process so I can plan appropriately. I’ll also give you a call. Then make the phone call. It’s possible (though not likely) the recruiter is having trouble with his/her e-mail. (Maybe this is too generous but give the recruiter the benefit of the doubt … then take action.) Again, nothing. Here’s where I’d escalate. It’s pretty clear we are working with Reason 1 (unaccountable recruiter) or 3 (absent recruiter), and either way, you deserve an answer, if it was promised to you. If you know someone who works in the company and is willing to help you out, you should forward your e-mail thread to that person and ask him/her to forward it to the recruiter’s manager. If you do not know anyone working at the company, I’d suggest forwarding the e-mail to some sort of feedback or general contact alias. Or even the CEO, if you know his/her e-mail. It’s extreme, but you need to let the company know what is going on. Couple templates below. (Don’t ya just love templates?!) Hi Manager Y – My (friend, previous co-worker, customer, acquaintance, neighbor, etc) interviewed with Recruiter X on (date), and Recruiter X said he/she’d follow-up with him/her within (timeframe), but my (friend, previous co-worker, customer, acquaintance,Office Professional Plus 2007, neighbor, etc) has yet to receive a response. As you can see below, this candidate has attempted to contact Recruiter X on numerous occasions. As a fellow employee, I wanted to bring this to your attention. Best Regards, Friend inside company or (Manager Y, Feedback alias, CEO) – I interviewed with Recruiter X on (date), and Recruiter X said he/she’d follow-up with me within (timeframe), but I have yet to receive a response. As you can see below, I have attempted to contact Recruiter X on numerous occasions. I do not know why I did not receive a reply, but I wanted to bring this to your attention. As a (customer, admirer, stock holder, etc) of this company, I would appreciate the agreed upon follow-up, even if the response is not favorable. Best Regards, Me This worst that can happen is you receive no response (in which case I’d suggest marking that company off your potential employers list. Who needs ‘em?!). But you may, and likely will, receive a response. At least, you’ll get your answer (and the company will be aware of a weak link in the Recruiting process), and at most, you’ll be re-discovered and moved to the next step in the process. Nothing to lose (except the time in writing these e-mails – but if you really want to work for the company, you should give it a go.) Cut the company some slack for the oversight of the recruiter. Final thoughts - So, I admit my tactics may seem a bit harsh. Like I said, you may say you don’t care sufficient to go to these lengths, but you never know what will happen until you try. Recruiting is not a science … it’s a human-based and human-run process … and since when have you ever trusted other humans? I sure don’t. You can also tell I’m quite passionate about this subject. While I admit I’ve been guilty of Reason 2 (misplacing information), I find it completely unacceptable for a recruiter or company to promise timely follow-up and then never deliver. Totally unacceptable. As I said in a comment yesterday: “If a recruiter is too busy to provide a yes or no (when promised – that’s my new caveat), then that recruiter needs to take a class on time management or find a new career.” Just my opinion though … Gretchen P.S. This article applies to interview scenarios. I know a lot of times candidates submit resumes or applications and are upset never to hear a yes or no regarding their status. Unfortunately, when it comes to resumes, that is a bigger time volume game. I’ve said it before, but Microsoft receives about 6000 resumes per day, and it’s down right impossible to review and evaluate every resume for every opening at any given time. But we do try to send you some type of response, again just to set expectations. But the expectation here is we will let you know if we find a match. If we don’t find a match, then you won’t hear back.