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My HR people, come on in
I posted this (or something similar) on 9 to 5 but really value everyone's opinions here. SO -
2nd interview at firm was Wed of last week. I emailed thank you's to the two people I interviewed with, one of whom replied (just standard "nice meeting you" kinda thing). I really don't want to screw this opportunity up, although with my luck lately I'm already prepared to not get the job. BUT I want to know that I did everything I could.
I'd like to follow up and ask when they intend to make a decision. My questions are:
1. Should I even do this? I don't want to be pesky
2. WHEN should I do this if at all? Is today too soon?
3. Who do I send it to? The partner of the firm who is obviously the final decision maker, or the associate who they initially advertised as the one to send a resume to, and who has been delegated by the partner to handle the resumes, and i presume calls/emails as well?
4. HOW do I say this tactfully without sounding whiny or needy?
Re: My HR people, come on in
That's tricky. When the interview ended, did they give you a timeline of the rest of the interview process? That's usually what has happened to me before. They would say something like "We are interviewing a few more candidates but we'd like to have this filled by XX date"
*In the interest of full disclosure, I am NOT in HR*
I'm not in HR so take what I say with a grain of salt.
I would give them a full week assume they had a couple of final interviews to do and that no one was working on Friday (or at least one decision maker was out) I'd wait till Wednesday to check in......I would check in with the associate.
And while I say that I never have the guts to check in....I'm bad at that!
I think that it is always a nice touch to send a quick "TY" note (even emails are not frowned upon nowdays, but I like the idea of hardcopy best) to those with whom you directly interviewed shortly after the interview. When I've received them, I appreciated the thoughtfulness and the respect that the candidate had for the time spent meeting with him/her.
That having been said...I've personally never been a huge fan of the candidates who call or email asking if we've filled the position or if not, when. I don't know that it was so much that I felt that they were needy or whiny, it's just that I've always made it a point to be clear on next steps at the close of each stage of the process, and I rarely had the time to follow up with individual specific requests for additional information while the process was still on going. To that point, if a call back with the results was promised by a certain date, I always followed through.
However, after interviewing a candidate, if the team decided to put "John Doe" in the "don't call us, we'll call you" pile (and all firms have them, though few will admit it), then it would be communicated in such a way that the candidate understood that we would contact him if we decided to move forward with him in the process - but even then a time line would be provided so that he would not need to guess.
I'd say go with the vibe that you got from your interview team. Some may view a call back as a sign of strong interest, and look favorably upon it...if you sense that this group may fall into that category, then follow your instinct :-))
I'm not in HR, not even working now so this is just an opinion!!!
1. Should I even do this? I don't want to be pesky I would. It is not fair to you to be waiting indefinitely for a callback/decision when you could be interviewing for and accepting other jobs.
2. WHEN should I do this if at all? Is today too soon? I would give at least one week.
3. Who do I send it to? The partner of the firm who is obviously the final decision maker, or the associate who they initially advertised as the one to send a resume to, and who has been delegated by the partner to handle the resumes, and i presume calls/emails as well? The associate.
4. HOW do I say this tactfully without sounding whiny or needy? A short email would suffice. I'm not sure on the wording but I don't think you will seem needy or whiny as long as it is strait to the point.
As a follow-up question...Why would a company interview someone and not say thanks but no thanks.
I've hired two girls in my office (done the initial resume search then the first round and my boss has come in for second rounds) I got annoyed when ppl were calling/stalking about a resume because we got hundreds and I didn't have time to reply to them all even though many will tell you to follow up with a resume you sent. But if we did a first round interview you got a thanks but no thanks email if you did a second round interview you got a thanks but no thanks phone call. I felt that was only fair. It drives me nuts when I don't at least get a quick "thanks for your interest but we've decided to go with another candidate best of luck" I mean that took all of 3 seconds to type.
My point exactly! Unfortunately, not all hiring managers do this for whatever reason, but this is it exactly. Ideally, at the end of each stage of the interview, the recruiting team should set the expectation for what the next steps will be, and follow through with them. That usually eliminates the need for candidates to feel as though they should follow up with a call beyond the thank you correspondence. But who knows, Rach? There may be some good news for you at the end of this rainbow!
I totally should have asked when to expect to hear something, but to be honest I kind of flaked. At the first interview I knew that I was being seen on the last of the interview days, and they got back to me very quickly asking me to come in for a second. I guess that's why I'm anxious, because the first call back was super fast. I do think a week is appropriate, though, and I need to just hold my horses.
@Laurie - I KNOW!!! This drives me totally insane. It takes 3 seconds to shoot off an email that informs you the job went to someone else. I don't understand why people have so little compassion for the job seeker -- as though they never dealt with a job search themselves??
Sorry in advance for how long this is!! As an HR person, I just get so excited about this stuff that I tend to go on and on... anyway...
In my opinion, if they did not give you a timeline as to when they hope to have the position filled by and gave no indiciation as to when they will follow-up with you by, it definitely won't hurt to follow up to check where they stand in their search. The best way to contact them would be by phone. As convenient as email can be, it doesn't have the personal feeling that a phone call would and the chance of a tone or word being misunderstood through email is much greater. An email runs the risk of coming off as 'pesky' where a phone call wouldn't as much.
I also think that today is a bit too soon. I'd give them at least until the end of the week, as they may still be having other candidates coming in for interviews this week. I would suggest contacting the associate who is listed as the contact person for the position. This person has been listed as the 'gatekeeper' for the position for a reason and many companies may not want their hiring managers contacted directly about the position. I know in our case, we (HR) act as the 'gatekeeper' and if a candidate calls and makes a strong impression to us on the phone, we are more likely to pass their name on to the hiring manager for consideration. So, this person may have more input than you think!
When making the call, I would just very kindly introduce yourself, and inform the associate where you currently are in the interview process. I'd tell them that you were left with a wonderful impression after your last interview, and reinforce that you are excited about the potential of the position. Then, just ask that you were hoping to find out the status of the position and ask if you can provide any additional information at this time.
I really hope this helps!! Let us know how it goes, and if I can offer any additional HR help, please don't hesitate to ask