No, really: you want to hire me!

April 29, 2007 8:23 AM

Did my dream job pass on my application? Is there any way for me to ask them to reconsider?

In February, my dream job was posted on the company’s website. Since I won’t be available to start a new job until May, I didn’t apply. When I saw that the posting was still up over a month later, I submitted my resume in late March. The next day, the posting was taken off the company website. Then, about a week ago, the exact same job was posted on a job search site (ie, Monster, HotJobs, etc).

The company only contacts applicants who are invited for interviews, and I haven't been contacted at all.

What am I to make of this? The obvious answer is that they passed on my application, which kills me because I’m completely qualified for this job and I want it so much.

A friend suggested calling to ask about the status of the search for position, without asking for information about the status of my application specifically. Another suggested calling to ask whether I should re-submit my credentials since the job was re-posted. (Both suggestions are hampered by the fact that I can’t find a phone number for the company’s human resources department. I might have to send an email instead.)

What should I do?

posted by anonymous to work & money (10 comments total)

Apparently, you're not otherwise being considered, so what have you to lose by trying to follow up? E-mail first, but try calling in a day or so if there is no acknowledgement response, if you can find a phone number.

Web site posting packages aren't perfect, e-mail gets lost, servers go down, etc. Reasonable follow up has to be your responsibility, as if your application never made it to the soliciting party, they have no other way of knowing about your interest.
posted by paulsc at 8:48 AM on April 29, 2007

Was there a closing date on the company listing?

The fact that they took the whole internal posting down the very day after you'd sent a CV sounds like a case of bad timing to me. My guess is that the posting was made available internally only first, and then after over a month without finding the right candidate, they'd set a deadline to remove it from the company site and post it externally.

I wouldn't re-submit based on the external posting. You are an internal candidate and that's not how the system is supposed to work, so if you are in fact still a possibility, that might be a mark against you.

Assuming you had clearance from your manager to apply for the dream job in the first place, if it were me, I'd check with HR. I would drop them an email, and fudge a bit:

"I applied on March X for listing #12-A-72, but did not receive a response. It appeared that the listing was removed from the site the same day*, so I assumed the position was already filled internally.

I've since seen a similar position listing on an external recruitment site. Is this the same opening that was listed in #12-A-72 on the company intranet? If it is the same position, I would like to make sure that my original application was received, as the timing suggests that maybe my email overlapped with the position being removed."

* There's the fudge - one day is close enough that it could be an honest mistake on your behalf but also justify the inquiry.
posted by pineapple at 9:02 AM on April 29, 2007

I e-mailed a prospective employer from my gmail account, wondered after a week why they hadn't responded, and found out after a phone call that gmail is considered spam by their mail servers.

Call their main number and ask for Human Resources. You owe it to yourself.
posted by desjardins at 9:06 AM on April 29, 2007

Sometimes a position is cancelled in the middle of hiring for it.
posted by mcwetboy at 9:10 AM on April 29, 2007

I know how you feel anonymous. I spent a futile 26 times for internal positions within my company, only to be beaten out by bigger fish or ignored entirely.

I've run into a situation like mcwetboy describes; than can be telling to as to how that business unit is making their quotas. Frankly, if its a replacement, they may hold off and see how the remaining employees do picking up the slack. If things still get done on time, the remaining employees get overworked and some pointy-hair moron gets a bonus for his cost-saving measure. Crappy, but its better than getting the job only to be axed at some point after.

It can also be miscommunication between the HR people. I've seen internal jobs be posted on the usual job sites at the same time, some of them filled even before hitting monster. Hell, some were filled before hitting the internal site, hows that for shady?

Enough of my bitter ranting; you won't know until you engage the mongoloids in HR as to where this stands. Unfortunately, don't expect great results. While many employers pay lip service, the ones I've seen give no priority to internal hires or seniority.
posted by dr_dank at 10:27 AM on April 29, 2007

You basically never know what's going on in a company's job search process. My experience is that looking into it more never hurts, though, so long as you have a friendly attitude and express genuine interest in working for the company. If you call the company's HR department, being friendly and asking their advice will certainly not make you look bad. It may go nowhere, but it may get your old application reread, or they may ask you to apply again -- you never know.

The new job posts probably direct applicants to use the same company website submission form you already used, but if they say to do something else, go ahead and do that, too. (It's weird that they took it off the company site, actually.)
posted by mattpfeff at 12:41 PM on April 29, 2007

Just want to clarify that OP is not an internal candidate according to the post. Looks like s/he originally saw the job on the company's site, but is not internal (or else s/he would know the number for HR, have a contact s/he could ask, etc).

I think it could be a situation of a mishire if the job is back up on the company site too. I think calling to ask if you should re-submit because the job was re-posted could be worthwhile. In regards to finding a phone number, it's certainly out there somewhere. Or you could try calling the main line and getting connected to HR. I'm going to guess that if you're not available to start until May, you're graduating from somewhere. If so, the career office at your school probably has some sort of company database like Vault or something that can give you contact info for people and departments.

FWIW, I know you're perfect and you really want the job. But there could be 10 other people that are more perfect and that's just the way it goes sometimes. Or sometimes there are other things at work and even though you think you're the ideal candidate, there's a reason they passed. Not trying to be all doom and gloom, but just because you're qualified and you want it, doesn't mean you'll get a call back. Whenever I review resumes nearly everyone is qualified and they all want it, but I have to narrow it down to 4-6 people and I'm sure I've cut out people like you before. Don't take it personally if it doesn't pan out.
posted by ml98tu at 1:25 PM on April 29, 2007

Good call, ml98tu. In cases where you get many qualifed and motivated people, on what basis do you cull the herd from there?
posted by dr_dank at 1:32 PM on April 29, 2007

Oh, yeah, I totally misread it. Disregard my previous comment, because it's definitely for an internal candidate.
posted by pineapple at 6:54 PM on April 29, 2007

All I can say (and saying this as someone who has probably missed out on quite a few job/internship possibilities in the past week, durn.) - is, if you submitted your resume in February, something about you probably changed - experience, skills, etc. So update your resume and send it to them.
posted by tmcw at 7:26 PM on April 29, 2007