Why Jobs Go Dark
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I discuss why you don’t hear anything from a company for long stretches of time.
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This came as a suggestion from someone I was representing to talk about why you don’t hear anything from firms for long stretches of time. Let me just share his experience.
I’m doing this recording in mid-September. I 1st represented him to a client of mine sometime in July. They responded by having them do a one-way video interview after an initial HR conversation. Then, nothing happened. A month and 1/2 or so goes by when nothing happens. Suddenly, they surface and go, “Hey! We would love to talk with you! Can we fly you out? Can we meet with you. We would love to have you talk with a few people one morning! How does your schedule look?” This happens much more often than you think.
I will also use the example of you doing an interview, to interviews, 3 interviews that there is nothing. No nothing.
What is going on? What is happening behind the scenes. Why are they not responding?
I 1st want to deal with the agency scenario where you have an agent representing you and they are the middleman between you and the company.
There are instances where the agent knows what is going on and isn’t ready to share it with you. Why? It’s because the firm is ready to communicate their decision or they want to manage you to the point where they want to get you another interview with different firm and then dropped the bomb that you’re no longer under consideration… Or million 100 things like the client is saying, “We’re not sure. There are 2 of people we want to see 1st.” Delay delay delay. They don’t want to let you know that the client is instantly enamored with you and isn’t instantly ready to pull the trigger. They are 1 of 3 recruiters who is representing you, so they want to keep you on the hook. Those a typical agency scenarios.
Now, let’s assume there is no buffer between you and the company. You’ve interview directly, they double the scheduling. You’ve done all the interviewing. Let’s use the example of this person. What’s going on behind the scenes?
Well, sometimes, as was the case here, a new C level executive joined, wanted to survey the landscape and then make a decision and they are not communicating with me. Actually, it’s an unfair situation because that’s another agency scenario. Did not communicating with me and I’m saying that I’m not hearing anything. That will be compacted to a communication situation.
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Liken the situation that I was just outlining where on the recruiter than not communicating, so they may be going on a high level of their organization where they decide to reevaluate the requirement. I’m doing this in September every had one person be frozen on their interviews. He was flown out for meetings. He was clearly the number 1 person that they seen. They’re coming up on October budgets. They are stalling a little bit in order to make sure that they have funding next year for the project that they want to hire him for. Position frozen. That took 3 weeks to do. Not terrible in terms of length like what this person went through, but 3 weeks is still long time to go without knowing what is going on.
Sometimes circumstances have changed for them; they are trying to manage their budget; there trying to see what is going on.
- They are stalling for time. There stalling because they’ve already committed to seeing for the people and they are not prepared to commit to you. After all, Moses may walk in the door. Mohammed may arrive! The Buddha may walk in! Then the perfect individual to do this job (and would you want to hire the Buddha). Seriously. The Buddha walks in. You want to hire the Buddha right? That sometimes occurs. They’re stalling for time, or sometimes they’re stalling for time because you didn’t really knock it out of the park. They’re shopping for a better alternative. That’s the most common scenario really as to what’s really going on behind the scenes.
Sometimes, the hiring manager has a lot of things to do. They really thought about what took place in your meeting with them for some time and they are bucking their own internal HR organization that is basically going, “Are you ready? Don’t you want to hire them? ” After all, HR wants to close these jobs out as much as you want to join. The hiring manager’s just too busy to make a decision, let alone think about it.
Sometimes there are stalls that go on for that reason, OR they are trying to talk themselves into hiring you because they’re just not sure. And they have to get over the hump in their waiting for magic words to be uttered to them that make them go, “Okay. I’ll do it.”
Those are some of the reasons why jobs go dark. It doesn’t make it any easier for you. But, understanding that, will make it easier for you to feel more comfortable.
1 of the tactics in response sometimes is to drop them a quick note and say, “A lot of time has gone by and I’m not trying to be difficult or push you, I just want to let you know my continued interest. Is there any way that we could talk further so I can help you resolve whatever doubts or questions you might have about me.” This way, they will respond by going, “no, no! That’s okay!” Or they will say, “Yeah. That’s a good idea.” Reaching out to them in that way can often be a good tactic.
To be clear, I’m not talking about a day later. I’m talking about a week, 2 weeks later and you are not hearing anything. You can drop them and not give them a sense that you’re open to talking with them again and what’s your schedule like to schedule something for the 2 of you to speak? I’m sure you get some version of response.
And if you’re working for a recruiter, contact them is the intermediary. They had an interest of closing you on the job and collecting the fee from the client. I’m sure they will advocate for you. If they’re not willing to advocate for you, there is a message in that as well.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. He is hired to provide No BS Career Advice globally. That can involve job search, hiring staff, management, leadership, career transition and advice about resolving workplace issues. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2500 episodes.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, and YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me via messaging on LinkedIn or in chat during the approximately 30-minute show.
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