Did it all go wrong?

October 2, 2007 11:00 PM

Jobfilter: What does it mean when the people who interviewed you start ignoring you?

I have worked for this company for 5 years. Recently a job in a different department came open and I applied.

It's a grocery chain, the job that opened up was for a traveling IT tech. I have first hand knowledge of the systems used and most of the time the regular IT guy just calls me to walk me through the stuff at my store. He and I are fairly good buddies and he has told everyone he wants me to get the job. His boss, who is based in another state, interviewed me and it went well, or so he said. He told me that he would let me know in about a week. He also told me I could call him anytime if I had any questions, saying that was as an exception he made because I am already an employee of the company.

A week went by, I did not hear from him. I called him, he answered, said he was busy at the moment, took my home phone number and promised to call me the next day and if he did not to call him again. He didn't call. I called again, once again he said he was busy, he told me that for sure the next day he would call me at the store where I work.

Nothing. So, using company email, I said that "since I've been catching you at busy times that I would drop you an email. I am just curious so see where I stand and if you have made a decision yet."

Nothing, and now, the guy who I work with all the time has ignored me on a few equipment orders and general work-related questions.

So now I fear that my interview went horribly wrong somehow and am freaking out about it. Would it be wise to try and call him again or should I just let it go? It's now been 3 weeks+ since I was interviewed.

posted by M Edward to work & money (15 comments total)

It's pretty obvious, he's trying to avoid you. So there's a few reasons why he would try to avoid you. A) He doesn't want to give you the job. Maybe he knows somebody else, like a buddy, and he's trying get that person the job. B) The budget for the position may have not been approved and he doesn't want to explain this to you. C) He's just really busy. Did you have a good relationship before? If so, how does this compare to his usual behavior? I was in a similar position a few years back. It took 6 months before the budget for my new position was approved. The company hit a rough spot and was trying to push things back over and over again. In the end, they had a manpower problem and realized they needed to hire me, asap. Just realize that there may be bigger forces at work before you go nuts about it...
posted by seniorzo at 11:23 PM on October 2, 2007

It sucks, but I think they don't want to hire you and are avoiding telling you that. Either they're bad at giving bad news, or there's some reason they can't hire you that makes them look bad.

I wouldn't bother asking again, although I would ask the guy who works with you all the time why he missed equipment orders and your question. It could open it up, or at least get him to not ignore you on day-to-day matters.
posted by ignignokt at 11:24 PM on October 2, 2007

Oh, and I forgot...he may also be intimidated with your level of proficiency with the IT systems. In my experience, there seems to be a lot of animosity with mid level management and talented IT engineers...he may not want to be shown up.
posted by seniorzo at 11:24 PM on October 2, 2007

Just let it go.

If they were interested they'd call you. Either that or there's something they're waiting on. Sometimes hiring takes a while in a big company.
posted by wilde at 11:25 PM on October 2, 2007

He's just not that into you.

Unless there's some policy you think they're violating and trying to be sly about (probably not, unless you're union), I'd say just drop it. You gave it your best shot, and sometimes this stuff just doesn't work out. If you were really hoping for this job, maybe it's time to float your resume around to competitors.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:43 PM on October 2, 2007

Going slightly against the grain here, call again.

Mention that you'd simply like a straightforward answer on the status of your hiring, good or bad. Be prepared to accept it if it's bad. But at least you'll know.
posted by cmgonzalez at 11:48 PM on October 2, 2007 [1 favorite]

Send an e-mail and ask if you can get some feedback on your application, so you can improve your chances of getting future jobs with the organisation. Either he'll tell you where you went wrong or tell you to wait until the position is finalised. Sometimes these things take weeks and weeks in big organisations.
posted by dg at 12:06 AM on October 3, 2007

A slightly different answer: It's possible that there's someone else the boss wants for the job, maybe someone he's more closely connected to, maybe someone more experienced than you, but that person hasn't given him an answer yet. In case that person falls through and you get the job, he doesn't want you to know that you were in fact second choice.
posted by nobody at 12:43 AM on October 3, 2007 [1 favorite]

I regret to say that twice recently this happened to people I interviewed. This really upset me as I find it totally unprofessional and just shitty on a personal level. But here's how it happened.

Most of the communication with potential hires is handled by full-time recruiters at my company. It's a couple peoples' jobs to find you, hook you, bring you in, greet you, and follow up with you after.

Guy #1 was a no-hire but the recruiter who'd been handling his case left the company right around the time we interviewed him. I thought that the recruiter would take care of all loose ends before leaving or at least let someone know the status. This was not the case. He dropped the ball and I was shocked to get an email from the applicant a week later asking what the deal was.

Guy #2 was an instant hire, but sadly some internal issues caused the opening to be frozen temporarily. The recruiter working on the case was transferred to another unit in the company and there was some tumult associated with the freeze. Somehow in all of that the recruiter, again, did not follow through fully on the communication, and once again the applicant contacted me directly.

In both cases it was an issue of me leaving too much responsibility on the recruiter or not following up with them enough or not cracking the whip on them enough.

My point is that one case was a no-hire and the other was a yes-please-hire but the end effect to each was the same. A dropped ball. Botched communication.

The lesson is: it's not always you. Sometimes it's them. It NEVER hurts to contact folks and try to figure out what's up. In both cases I scrambled to correct once I found out the person had been left hanging.

In the end, I think that any hiring employer who fucks this stuff up isn't somewhere you want to work. Botched communications of this kind, my explanations aside, are inexcusable and it absolutely galls me whenever anything like this happens.
posted by scarabic at 12:51 AM on October 3, 2007

If they knew they didn't want you they'd tell you. If they knew they wanted you, they'd tell you. They just don't know yet. If it's been a few days, call them, or else give them till the end of the week. My guess would be that they're waiting on someone else to decide, but that you're their fall back. It's not the best place to be, but maybe you've still got a chance.
posted by the christopher hundreds at 12:53 AM on October 3, 2007

For whatever reason, they're not telling you and your friend probably knows it. He likely doesn't want to get in the middle, have you press him, or otherwise be the one to break whatever news there might be. Heck, it just may be that they're stringing you along and you'll eventually get the job. My gut is going with the bossman having someone else in mind for the gig, who themselves could conceivably be dragging things out. Who knows.

I know how things can be at wonky jobs, and it's not always easy or appropriate or whatever to nail the boss down. Someone that determined to avoid you, will. He's probably got a quiver of excuses. Do you want to have to run the gambit of every one? They know you're there, lame as that may be of them.
posted by rhizome at 1:04 AM on October 3, 2007

Once upon a time, a former-employer's IT department courted me for an upgrade from telephone monkey to fully-fledged IT pro monkey (I have experience, training, grace, and common sense.) Unfortunately, the mouthpiece/boss of "Information Technologies" was gradually "becoming un-hired" around the time I tried for the position. Since I was in a different department, I had no chance to fully realize that he had tried to bring me (and previous others) aboard because he couldn't/wouldn't do his job.

In retrospect, I fixed many issues for him and ended up being dragged down with him by association. It was a small-enough company that, if he had been as qualified as he said he was, he should have been able to handle it. He tried to hire "assistants" he didn't need and the powers-that-be recognized it, canned him, and brought in the dreaded consultants to undo everything.
posted by bonobo at 3:40 AM on October 3, 2007

Is there some reason that you need to know by a certain date? If so, call one more time, say you don't want to bug the guy but you need to know by ________ . Otherwise, if it's just nerves on your part, assume you don't have the job and try to forget about it and not pressure the guy.

It sounds like things have gotten awkward between you and regular IT guy; you might tell him (if it's true) that you're fine whether you get the job or not, and not to worry about it, that you hope things between the two of you can remain professional and friendly [use your own true description here] just as before. You might also say that you won't bring it up again unless he does -- that could make things a lot easier between you.
posted by amtho at 5:07 AM on October 3, 2007

Sounds like your buddy and the guy who interviewed you got inappropriately enthusiastic.

What's the problem with that? Well, likely the hiring process has to wend its way through the HR process, who have regulations regarding how many candidates should be interviewed for this job, etc etc etc. The person who interviewed you may well have even been reprimanded for that "call me anytime" invite.

Seconding letting your buddy know that you're fine with him whether you get the job or not. He shouldn't have gotten your hopes up.
posted by desuetude at 7:05 AM on October 3, 2007

I do a lot of interviewing and second a lot of these, particularly seniorzo, scarabic, nobody, and amtho. I just want to reassure you that it could be that they want to hire someone else, or it could be that they would consider you a good but second-choice possibility (and are waiting to hear back from their second-choice person)(who really might turn them down), but it also really could be that something internal is going on (some shift in the project or budget that would freeze hiring or make them rethink the job description) or that they are too busy to do the hour's worth of things they need to do before hiring you (calling references, getting someone else's okay). Good luck.
posted by salvia at 8:42 PM on October 3, 2007