update from the job seeker whose interviewer had gone AWOL

by Alison Green on May 12, 2011

I’m not going to say I told you so, but … yes, actually I am. I told you so.

This is an update from the letter-writer from last Sunday, who couldn’t figure out why an interviewer who had seemed really enthusiastic had suddenly gone AWOL and hadn’t gotten back to her:

Just wanted to provide an update. I got the job offer today! I was excited and relieved to have my job search time be cut short this time.

A note to anyone else who else is stuck in the after the interview waiting game, the HR rep gave me some great feedback. She said she appreciated that I checked in once with a polite short e-mail to know I was still interested when the decision slowed down. She did note that some other candidates in the past would send unprofessional e-mails, full of spelling and grammar errors, so it was refreshing to see someone know how to do the professional follow-up. I am now thankful for the 5 times I read the e-mail before I sent it! Good luck to everyone else, and thank you for posting my question :)

Told you so.

It’s worth reiterating:  Yes, sometimes when an employer isn’t getting back to you, it is indeed bad news. But sometimes — especially if it’s been less than a few weeks — it just means that things are taking longer than they’d planned … because someone is sick, or there’s a budget question that needs to be resolved, or they’ve just gotten sidetracked with higher priorities. Stay patient, remember that employer time runs on a whole different speed than candidate time, and distract yourself with other things (like this or this or this).

And congratulations, original letter-writer.

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  3. Anonymous*

    I’m on the other side of this now. We interviewed someone to replace me because I’m getting promoted. Now that is in doubt because we’re not agreeing on the terms of my new position. We were ready to offer this guy but are now holding off until I come to a decision. If I leave the company (I have another offer that’s more interesting) he won’t get the job because he’s not exprienced enough without me there to mentor him. Nobody in or out of my company knows about my new position so we obviously won’t be giving this guy any details. So I’m sure he is going through the same thoughts right now but we liked him so much that we didn’t even schedule any more interviews.

  5. ThomasT*

    Thanks for the link to Randall’s Assertive Management video – very helpful. (It’s the 2nd one, for others wanting to see.)

  6. Megan*

    Congratulations to you! I have a similar story that may help to ease others’ waiting pains.

    I had an interview at a new school last week on a Tuesday for a counseling position. It was very exciting and it went extremely well for me. I was told by my potential supervisor that I was the best candidate they’d seen and that he would really like to hire me but that he needed to discuss things with other people who were in charge. He wasn’t able to answer one question that I had and he encouraged me to email one of the higher ups.

    I left on cloud nine! I waited til the next morning and then emailed the boss-man with my question. I also thanked him profusely for his time and complimented him on the positive environment he had created at the school in such a short time (it’s only been open for one year).

    But then I had to wait.

    No response that day. No response the next day. OHMYGODHEHATESME.

    But then on Friday he emailed me with an answer to my question and an invitation to a second interview.

    The moral of the story is that he wasn’t ignoring me. He was probably waiting for the other set of first-round interviews to be completed and for inter-departmental discussions to be finalized before contacting me with an invitation to the second round of interviews.

    I’m so excited and I’m glad I waited.

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