Ask the Expert: How much should I chase a response?
I had what I felt was a good interview at a major financial institution in London two months ago but have heard nothing back. I sent an email to the HR department but received no response. Despite positive feedback during the interview, I have to assume I will not be getting a second interview. Is there anything else I can do now, or should I just chalk it up to bad corporate manners?
Chase them up again! It is all too common for companies to behave in this rude and inconsiderate manner and they should not be allowed to get away with it. You have the right to a proper response and best practice would include offering you some constructive feedback.
You have not said whom the interview was with. Assuming both a line manager and an HR executive were present, email both of them separately and then follow up with a phone call a week later, if you still haven't had a response. In your email, remind them how much you enjoyed the interview and point out that you still have not heard from them and would like to know where they have got to in their hiring process. Sending separate emails (not cc'd) avoids the danger that each person assumes the other has answered.
Of course the most likely outcome is that you will just get a formal 'no'. But at least you will have stood up for good corporate manners and will know for sure where you stand. One can't help feeling a glimmer of hope in these circumstances and it is not unheard of for companies to take a couple of months to respond positively. Our recruitment expert, Tony Tucker, once had a call inviting him for second interview two months after an initial meeting - and well after he'd written the job off.
If you still do not get a response after your emails and phone calls, business ethicist Roger Steare advises a firmer approach. He takes the view that individuals have a responsibility to highlight unacceptable behaviour of this kind and to draw it to the attention of the senior management. You should therefore write to the most senior person or people involved with the recruitment process, point out to them how poorly you have been treated and ask for a proper response. Tell them that if they don't respond you will demand to see a copy of your file under the Data Protection Act.
This may seem like an extreme response, but Steare believes companies will only change if they are called to account and that individuals have a duty to stand up for good behaviour even if it could have a detrimental effect on themselves.
It goes without saying that all the while you should be directing your job search elsewhere. I'm sure it has crossed your mind already that you wouldn't want to work for this institution anyway, now that you know how pathetically inefficient or shockingly disrespectful they are in the way they treat job applicants. How do they treat their employees, clients and suppliers, one wonders?
So, demand better behaviour from them, but focus your efforts elsewhere. And whenever you have an interview, make sure you ask when and how you will hear about the next stage and follow up promptly if a company doesn't live up to its own promises.
A reader advises:
You should not be waiting around! Companies like to think that the people they want to hire are valuable and rare. Waiting around gives the opposite impression - that you are not quite the go-getter they are looking for.
Get out there and interview like crazy. Once you get an offer, contact the recruiter for the employer who made you wait two months and tell them that unless they act with in the next two days you will be accepting a job at another firm. Good luck!
Next week's question: I have been working as a consultant advising companies on corporate finance issues, having been made redundant a year ago. I now want to go back into the City on the equities side, but I am pregnant. I would want to stress to any employer that I am not looking for any maternity benefit or more than three months leave. Will this make any difference? Do I have any real chance of getting a job while pregnant?
What would you advise? Send your answer to: expertadmin@efinancialcareers.com.
Look out for the Experts' answer to this dilemma and readers' comments on Ask the Expert next week!
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Our experts include: Roger Steare, a career coach at Roger Steare Consulting, Makbool Javaid, an employment partner at the law firm DLA and Tony Tucker, a recruitment consultant at ERG.
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