6 REASONS WHY RECRUITERS DONT GET BACK TO YOU AFTER INTERVIEW
with
Moruf Kolawole Nasir
(Experienced HR professional)
nmkolawole@gmail.com; info@jarushub.com
After committing time, energy and other resources applying for jobs and getting shortlisted for the screening/interview stage, one will expect, either out of professional conduct or moral obligation, that the recruiter/employer keeps the applicants posted of the proceedings especially at a point where the candidate is screened out of the race. Unfortunately this is not always the case these days of too many job seekers compared to limited jobs, even though job seekers do not find this funny as they regularly, publicly and rightfully, voice their displeasure about being left in the dark.
Sadly, there appears not to be any end to this in sight as few recruiters/employers extend this minimal courtesy to job seekers. For these reasons, I present below, some of the reasons why employers don’t respond after a job interview.
1. THE COMPANY: Despite how rampant this unprofessional attitude is, some companies still leave above board and maintain the right professional values and standards. They keep applicants posted throughout their recruitment process. This I must admit is made easy most time through their usage of advanced Human Resources Information System gadgets, with adequate hands to thoroughly follow recruitment processes. Unfortunately, for most of the unstructured companies, their HR departments are left at the mercies of Microsoft word and excel and as such are left to ‘manually’ treat applicants one after the order, which leaves the HR staff with more works to do, and it takes the highly disciplined ones to go the extra mile of telling applicants whenever they are out of the ‘race’.
2. WHEN THE PROFESSIONAL IS UNPROFESSIONAL: No doubt, the knowledge, experience and exposure of an HR person go a long way in determining how he/she handles his/her job, and the values he/she upholds. Those who know their onus in the practice know too well that best practice demands that applicant be kept posted of their status in a recruitment process.
3. THE LAZY PROFESSIONAL: A lazy man is a lazy man irrespective of how experienced or professional he is. Some professionals irrespective of the facilities available to keep applicants (unsuccessful ones) posted of their status, are just too lazy to extend that courtesy, unfortunately job seekers are in surplus. The recruiter/employer would obviously have had hundreds of job applicants come in for interviews, and now he doesn’t have the time or inclination to respond back to each and every person individually.
4. BEING ONE OF THE TOP BEST: This is one of the major reasons why applicants may never be contacted after interview. Recruitment process is not complete until the shortlisted candidate accepts the offer and starts work. This is so because sometimes the best candidates turn down the offer; some accept but never resumed work; yet a third remain indecisive for a long time before making up their mind whether to take the offer or not. In any of these scenarios, the employer /recruiter is left in the dark for a long period of time, and if it turns out to be negative, he starts all over again. To guide against this, recruiters/employers resolve to holding on to the best three (sometimes more than three) candidates. If the best candidate rejects the offer in the long run, the second best is offered and so on, until the position is occupied by one of the top best candidates. While this ‘trial an error’ continues, the top best are kept in the dark (for no employer wants to tell you to hang on while they try other(s) before you). If the other runner ups are lucky they get contacted after the vacuum is occupied, otherwise, they may never hear anything from the recruiter again.
5. THE POSITION NO LONGER EXISTS OR THE RECRUITMENT IS PUT ON HOLD: This happens many times after initiating recruitment process. for whatever internal reason, the recruitment may be expected to be on hold or in some cases the position suddenly get filled internally. In these kind of scenarios, especially the former, the HR staff is left in an unsure state, and for want of what to tell applicants (especially where the process has already started) may remain silent thus putting the applicants in the dark forever.
6. BEING RUDE AT INTERVIEW: This is not common, but we sometimes encounter not well mannered applicants during interviews. Embarrassing interview panelist or being rude at interview leaves the recruiter with no moral justification to spare his/her time and resources notifying you of anything else. Such applicant need not expect to hear or read from the recruiter.
Always remember “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn”.
