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Many jobseekers report never hearing back after applying for a job.
Maybe you weren’t expecting to land the job. But if you’ve been applying for jobs recently, chances are you hoped to hear something back.
And chances are, you’ve been disappointed at least once.
A new survey finds that 75 percent of employed people who applied for a job in the past year never heard from at least one potential employer.
The results were part of a broad survey of more than 3,900 workers conducted last November by Harris Interactive for jobs website CareerBuilder. Of the 1,083 workers who said they had applied for a job in the past year, more than 800 reported never hearing a peep at least once.
Miss Manners might not approve, but experts say it’s not unusual these days for jobseekers to find their job applications ignored. Blame a combination of the still-tough job market, which can mean that hundreds or thousands of people are applying for the same positions, and technology that makes it all too easy for people to apply for dozens if not hundreds of jobs.
“It is pretty common, unfortunately,” said Lynn Taylor, a workplace expert and author of “Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant,” who was not involved in the CareerBuilder survey.
The CareerBuilder survey found that overall, about one fourth of the full pool of 3,900 workers had had a bad experience as a job applicant. Those experiences included never hearing the decision after a job interview, finding out the actual job didn’t match the original description and having a job application ignored, according to CareerBuilder.
Not surprisingly, more than 4 in 10 workers said that if they were treated badly they wouldn’t seek employment with that company again.
Taylor, the workplace expert, said ignoring resumes or not following up after an interview could harm a company’s reputation. But in the current job market, with unemployment still hovering around 8 percent, she said most employers probably figure they can get away with it because so many people are desperate for work.
Related: Are you a struggling single parent? We want to hear from you.
With hiring so tight, she noted, companies also may not have the manpower to follow up with each applicant.
“Yes, it’s the right thing to, but .. the reality is that it’s not going to happen as much as it used to,” she said. “That’s the harsh reality of today.”
Instead of sulking about not hearing back, Taylor said that jobseekers who really want the job need to be proactive about following up with the hiring manager themselves.
That can be true later in the hiring process as well, she said.
If you make it to the interview stage, Taylor recommends asking during the interview what the time frame is for filling the position and what the next steps are. You could even consider asking how you stack up against other applicants, she said.
After sending your thank-you note, she said it’s also appropriate to follow-up again in a week or so, to check on where things stand and perhaps to offer another tidbit of information about yourself.
Still, she noted that it’s a fine line between following up and harassing. If you check in three times and never hear back, it’s probably best to stop pestering them – and wonder if you really want to work for a company like that in the first place.
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Welcome to corporate America. All pretense of respect has been deemed 'overhead' with, of course, the exception of profit at any and all costs. You are no longer a 'member of the team/family' - you are an 'asset' or a 'liability' - no more, no less.
Attitude depends upon company and profession. By far most places like to see employees as family. But, in the end the bottom line of Revenue must be greater than or equal to expenses or the company ceases to exist. Most employers would like to give people more, especially the better employees, but they are limited by needing to protect the company or no one will have anything.
Welcome to the narcissist generation which all grew up with a dozen trophies and never had anyone telling them no. This is the real world. It has always been this way. You put out a hundred resumes. The only ones that call you back are the ones with a match for your resume. And even then, only the ones with a sure "YES' from the client will bother to contact you to tell you that you have been rejected. What a bunch of crybabies!
Wow. What colour is the sky on YOUR planet?
Beware working for "family". They usually dump on you.
mj: Nice comeback. Made me laugh.
The way that employers are talked about in this country, under the current progressive/liberal leadership, I can't blame them one bit for having a negative attitude toward job seekers. If you think you have a right to a job you are one crazy person. I would be very leery of hiring anyone I suspected of being a progressive/liberal.
I was thinking that a person could have made some good money from getting the names of everyone who participated in the OWS movement and selling the list of names to potential employers.
JH, come on now. That's as bad as the stupid Facebook post I saw of an alleged layoff letter saying that only the employees whose cars were found to have Obama stickers on them would be laid off.
You can blame politics for some things (lack of banking regulation, companies hiding assets in tax shelters), but you can't blame Bush or Obama for the lack of job seeker response letters.
Okay, here is the problem. "Job Sites" on the internet allow a person to put in their resume once and then "blast" it out to hundreds of employers. We (employers) get deluged with hundreds of resumes, most of who don't even really know they applied. They don't come with cover letters, and are worded so vaguely that's its obvious they were crafted to send to a wide variety of employers. Translation, most are "junk resumes".
By contrast, when someone takes the time to send me a resume in the mail and it's obvious they've tailored it to our position (and written a nice cover letter), I always give it preferential treatment and always respond. To the "junk resumes" I feel no obligation to respond, since most of them don't really even know they applied.
On the one hand, technology has made it easier to reach out, but on the other hand, EVERYONE is now reaching out A LOT, which has created a lot of "noise". Want to get your resume noticed? Send it Federal Express or something like that. Do SOMETHING to differentiate yourself.
The job market is so competitive now that often times employers have thousands of applicants for one job...and if they have multiple jobs open they have tens of thousands of applications. It isn't reasonable to expect them to send out rejection letters like they used to.
Assertive job hunters will initiate follow-up themselves. There's a right way and a wrong way to do that, and most people just don't have good job hunting skills. They pinch pennies instead of hiring an expert, and then pay the price by remaining unemployed. And by "expert" I don't mean your average resume mill Joe who simply uses a resume template; I mean someone who knows how to market the unique skills and accomplishments of each job hunter and who knows how to work the application process.
Job hunting today is NOT the same thing it used to be.
Even if I want to "follow up" after I submit my application, I simply can't
A lot of companies have you fill out these archaic profiles on their outdated intranet sites. You submit your resume, get a two sentence automated response email - "Thank You for your interest in blahblahblah Inc.! You'll be hearing from us shortly if we think you are a good fit for the position!"
And never hear from them again....over-qualified, under-qualified, lacking certification in XXX? Who the hell knows! You clicked "submit", it's now OFF TO THE INTERNET GODS IN THE FIFTH DIMENSION!!.
You never hear back, but the exact job listing is relisted two months later on all the regular job sites.
I've applied to several jobs over the past couple months (luckily I'm employed) that I thought I would be an ideal candidate for and nothing. Just a little constructive criticism, anything, other than applying to some website to never hear from it again.
They never give contact information anymore, so it's not like you can followup with an actual person. It drives me crazy.
But if you’ve been applying for jobs recently, chances are you hoped to hear something back.
This isn't a recent reality, its been going on since 2008. After 500 resumes & job applications, if it wasn't a government tested job I only heard back from 3. Civility went out the door in April 2008 when the first wave of layoffs came and hundreds applied for 1 job.
Most of the time it IS possible to follow up. You have to know how and what to research to find out who the decision-makers are. You are right, they often don't give you contact information, but the people who know how to figure it out and are proactive and motivated enough to do so shine in a stack of resumes.
Most resumes are horrific. Many job hunters don't use cover letters and when they do the letters are even worse. Again, it is critical for applicants to develop effective job hunting techniques.
"To Whom it May Concern" cover letters typically go right in the garbage.
"I am interested in a job with your company" (generic letters) typically go right in the garbage.
Like this is new..no reply back from employers. Been like this since I started working in early 1960's! And most likely way for that time too.
Alot of the big boys don't let you know you didn't get the job. You just never hear back from them after the interview. Your thank you follow-up email (if you are lucky to have an inside source to find the correct email address) is never replied to. Boeing does this and it is quite unprofessional and inconsiderate IMHO.
I believe you are correct SDN. #1
Have you been in the position to hire someone and recieved all of the "applications"? When you ask for a resume and people send you a link to their facebook with a couple sentances about how personable they are and how they work well with others? Should that be replied to? Maybe you'd shoot them a friend request? When you have an opening for a job that is based around physical labor and they tell you how great they are at marketing and answering phone calls. Reply to that one too?
Why should time be wasted replying to people that didn't care enough read your job description in the first place? I don't for a second think everyone that "applies" deserves or should expect a reply. I do think that everyone who was interviewed deserves a reply though.
I don't understand the bitterness people have toward employers. If you aren't happy with how a company is run, or how you're treated, you can always look for another place to work. If you think they are all unfair, stuffing their pockets while robbing the employees, you should try your hand at running your own small business; It might change your opinion.
I also want to comment on the idea that most companies/owners want to treat the employee like family. It's true, but when that employee returns the sentiment with taking a break every hour, taking personal phone calls 4 to 5 times a day to chat with their neighbors or friends, watching youtube or visiting their social media sites during work hours, taking sick days 3 or 4 times a month because they just don't feel like coming in, constantly "goofing off" instead of actually working(what they are being paid to do), taking twice as long to complete the same tasks as they did before you started treating them like "family."
Hopefully you get the picture, yes, they deserve to get let go after multiple warnings. If you don't understand, and you think it's all "coporate greed" and "bottom line" you probably fit the description above.
I wouldn't say that anyone (myself included) has a right to a job, but after 15 years in the same profession and a few large, successful, projects under my belt, if I apply to an open position at a company, then interview for that position, they should at least let me know one way or the other. No interview, no response necessary. However, when someone is looking for a job, other prospects will ask them if they are in the process of interviewing for another job.
The one thing I will say is that if I interview and never hear back (which has never happened, I haven't gotten them all, but always got some comment) that tells me that I dodged a bullet, because that organization is not professional.
Even a form letter or email stating your resume has been recieved and that no positions are currently available would be nice.
Standard operating procedure: No letter or email means we are not interested.
Actually today, there are a number of things going on. In the Design and Construction sector, they underwent a major downsizing. You could see Owners of 6 - 10 person businesses reduced to just the owner. Instead of full-time marketing, the owner then fills all the work roles left by the people layed off and still try to do enough marketing to get new work.
With the larger number of people applying for work, and less time to do office work, Owners really have to make time to acknowledge receipt of resumes when no time may actually be available for this normal activity.
I saw one post where the person said you have to constantly call to make them know you want that job.
Trust me, I know someone who called too much, so they are seen as high maintenance and will never be hired. Too bad for her, she would have made a good employee for that employer from what I know.
Follow up once or twice and only more IF the employer invites for you to do.
The keys in follow up is the right kind of follow-up and the right timing. If you are calling at the wrong time, you probably won't get asked for an interview. If the person hiring doesn't like phone calls, use email, or if they don't like email then use a phone call. A lot of times you will have no clue to which will work.
If the company doesn't use an electronic application process, it's labor-intensive for someone to send out thousands or tens of thousands of rejection emails.
If it IS an electronic application process, most applicants don't know they need their documents converted to plain text. When they copy and paste Microsoft Word documents the electronic systems used can't even read the docs, so no one is going to be able to write back one way or the other. Well-qualified people who don't know how to job hunt in today's market fail to land interviews because of the lack of current job hunting skills.
I understand companies receive hundreds of resumes for one position but they can send a generic "thank you but not interested" letter or reply by e-mail to the applicant. That is just common courtesy. No one wants to be ignored.
Inexcusable and highly unprofessional. It's happened to me twice.
Understandable. Especially considering there are likely a large volume of apps/CVs received these days.
Better than them hearing "out of the way middle aged white person with no skills or prospects to fit the 21st century world"
up yours, rick
I second that, and with a sewer auger.
Thank GOD......I DON'T have to lay my future "COMFORT ZONE"......in somebody's else's hands. Besides....I'm almost 78 years old.....but...I want to keep busy anyway....and being PAID for it is a PLUS.
So.....I STARTED my own business.......44 years ago....and REALLY....I NEVER looked back. There is nothing like the satisfaction of HAVING YOUR OWN BUSINESS, and now.....reaching 78......(Nobody would "hire" an OLD GEEZER like me anyway.)
Let's face it......Looking for a job.......REALLY SUCKS.....Looking at your INERVIEWER...with that "hopeful" look....is almost like telling your EXECUTIONER......"to go easy on KILLING you".
I really like it even if it only lasts hours.
Ralph, it's a good thing you aren't in the job market. With writing skills like yours (ellipis happy? 'shouting'?) you'd never find one.
I was unaware it existed in the first place.
This is very old news. Applications/inquiries have been dropping into a black hole for years now.
I'd be more concerned about how way too many employers demand that an applicant provide all sorts of personal information to them way before the employer is remotely interested in talking about possibly hiring them. Birth date, social security number and references should only be asked for when the employer is really - really interested in the applicant. You'd be suprised just how many of these so called professional human resourse people want job applicants to send their detailed info off to them in some black hole somewhere, never to be heard from, never, ever. Forget them!
That's an interesting point. If someone asks for highly personal information, but can't reply back when the position is filled, it shows their mentality towards prospective employees.
Many of these companies have gotten way too personal too early on in the process.
I receive hundreds of applications from people who obviously did not read the job post. If the job applicant didn't do me the courtesy of actually reading the job description then I do not owe them the courtesy of a reply.
The issue isn't the reponse to an initial application or resume submission. The major issue with today's "Human" resources practices is the lack of follow up after a prospective employee has been interviewed via phone, face-to-face, etc...
Receiving no response from the hiring managers or the HR departments regarding the status of the posted position is the most frustrating part of the job search process. Despite reaching out multiple times to employers that I have had face-to-face interviews with, the courtesy of the generic "Thank you for your application, but we have chosen to go with another candidate" e-mail or letter is not sent.
It would be nice if the human part of human resources actually existed.
The last job I was hiring for was a mid-level accounting position. Among the applicants were a newly minted biology graduate, a personal trainer, a teacher, a cashier at a gas station, and a car salesman. Over 100 resumes, of which only 3 met minimum qualifications, which were clearly defined in the job post. Sorry, I'm not sending 97 "thanks for wasting my time" letters.
I don't think you should. But to the 3 who did meet the minimum qualifications it seems reasonable.
It is sad to go through the job searching process, reach the 2nd or even third interview... then not be told a thing, never hear back from them again despite sending thank you notes and a follow up email to the HR manager or decision-maker.
A simple note or email saying that you were not selected provides closure for people and reflects a professional attitude on the company's part. Especially if they say in the note to 'please look at our website for other opportunities'- at least you're not left wondering where you went wrong, or if you were not being treated seriously. It's cruel.
I fully agree that if the company makes contact with you - whether a phone interview or onsite interview - they then owe you a "thanks but no thanks".
They owe you nothing. It is you who are approaching them for a job. If you want an answer, you call them. If it was me, I would call them and tell them I have another offer and need to know what their decision was.
No, JobSeeker, once they interview you, they owe you a response.
Once they make contact with you, you are no longer the one approaching them for a job. Once they call you for an interview, they are now seeking *you* out to fill their position, so it is their responsibility to tell you whether you got the job or not.
I agree with you, Stephen. When I worked for a Catholic hospital, and helped with departmental hiring, we sent a note to each person who was interviewed. If they were interested enough to take their time to come in and talk with us, it was the least we could do. Of course, the Nuns were much more civil and kind than some of the hiring managers we have today.
Stephen....Nope. I send my resume to the agency. The agency sees a possible match and sends my resume to their client. The client narrows down the applicants and tells the agency which applicants they want to interview. Thousands of resumes are exchanged. You can't possibly expect the agency to call every single applicant. My experience is that the companies that are truly interested and have a real job needing to be filled, they would call you back immediately. If you have to wait, forget about it. This "They owe me" stuff is pointless.
Job,
Stephen isn't saying that they need to contact every applicant, he's saying that they should have the decency to contact you after an interview, even if the answer is "we're going with another candidate".
Employers in my field have started to schedule interviews that last 6-8 hours. The least they could do is follow up at a later date.
Seeker,
If you are dealing with headhunters, they are a different class of animal. Often they get your resume and interview you to feel you out. Then they sit on your resume until they get a match and they can either get you hired or send you on to another interview. If you are not getting any feedback or letters its bad form on behalf of the agency you are using.
Unless an employer is calling me to say "you're hired", I don't need to hear from them.
At the very least hiring managers should follow-up with applicants they have interviewed - either by phone or in person. Those applicants have taken the time to avail themselves under certain circumstances. They deserve some courtesy. It doesn't cost anything to be nice. And one should always ask - What if the shoe was on the other foot?
Thing is, employers can shrug their shoulders all they want. Each person left jobless is potentially one less customer in the overall economy with purchasing power. If the habit is to ignore, you basically have a cluster of uncertainty being formed in every sector of the economy.
In a lot of businesses, employed people have money to spend on their product. So, they should want to do every possible thing to support an organized job application process. The faster applicants can check jobs off the list, the sooner they will move on to new options. Leaving uncertainty and breeding uncertainty is bad practice when certainty is what this economy needs to turn around.
There are obviously going to be literal limits as to how many can be replied to. I would recommend an application system that auto generates a courtesy email whenever an applicant is not "selected" to the be the hired employee. Basically, a courtesy email generated based on an exclude basis and not an include basis.
Stop being so short sighted employers! Do everything you can and stop making lazy decisions! We will get back to a great and prosperous economy, but not with lazy thoughts!
Your assumption is that it is laziness. Look at how many of the respondents, from HR or as hiring managers, reflect that more than 95% (in my case over 96%) of all applicants don't meet MINIMUM requirements. All applicants in our company get an automated thank you message. But I will not, nor do I expect others to, spend more time addressing any applicant when the applicant has so clearly wasted my time and resources - or at the very least didn't themselves invest any time in bothering to read the posting...
@Dan,
That's not what the others are asking for. They are asking for HR to, at the VERY LEAST, respond to applicants who made it to the interview stage. You know, those people who actually *DO* qualify for the job, and thus did *not* waste your time.
Those people deserve a response from you. Otherwise *you* are the one wasting their time.
It shows professionalism and common courtesy for an HR department or hiring manager to take the 5 minutes to close the loop with an interviewee. I have been in the situation multiple times where I have taken personal time off of work, and incurred personal expenses such as parking etc. to attend interviews (sometimes even second and third) for which I am qualified, with no response. I am pretty sure Obama wasn't at the opposite end of the table.
Dan-1282816
If someone REALLY doesn't meet minimum requirements (which usually has a gray area), no reasonable, professional, person would expect any kind of response.
It's the ones that made it to an interview or have decades of experience that should definitely get a response. I work in a relatively small and cloistered profession and I know the companies that hire in my region (and many of the individuals that work in this profession through Professional Organizations).
If I am interviewed by someone or interview someone, our paths will meet again. Might as well be civil.
I have gotten resumes forwarded from HR after screening that made me wonder what in the hell HR was thinking, or if they were thinking at all. When the obvious lack of care, basic literacy, and consideration of the actual job posting's qualifications when applying for it are so egregious, I just throw them in the circular file, and don't even bother to call them back. I have more important things to do than scan stacks of meaningless mumbo-jumbo from totally unqualified and inexperienced fools, sent in just to see how the fishing might be.
Once in a while, HR would call back inquiring about a specific idiot because they were a friend of someone in the company. I then tell HR that their candidate is stupid, knows nothing, totally sucks, and has no right being employed anywhere in the whole company, unless the object is to start destroying the company from within. If the applicant's friend calls me, I tell them that if they can write and send me a business case for interviewing and/or hiring an unqualified, inexperienced idiot that has no grasp of the English language or how to proofread a resume, that usually shuts them up. They may hate me for that. I can live with that.
I hope you remember your own attitude if you ever find yourself on the other end of the hiring spectrum. Karma will have her way with you. Too bad none of us will be there to see it.
You must be just a peach to work for!
Did you ever think that's exactly why HR sends you all those applications? Maybe they know what kind of jerk you are and just want to let you know it.Try asking anyone else who hires in your company if they get the same amount of applications that have no relevance to the job posted. If they don't, guess what!!!!!
I can understand not replying to every applicant (my husband receives an average of 300 resumes for each job posting, and most of them are not qualified), but my daughter has been called for three interviews from two different companies in the past two weeks and didn't get a call saying they'd chosen someone else. She even sent thank you notes to the interviewers.
If you bring a person in for three interviews you must have found that person 1. qualified, 2. a possible candidate, and 3. worth talking to. Those candidates should receive a follow-up call!
In this market, Thank You cards are important, if you just interviewed with your mother!
The truth is that we hire people all the time who never send them.
I respond (as being in the HR industry) to every minimally qualified candidate, no matter the stage at which their candidacy ends. I do not, and will not, respond to the roughly 96% of initial applicants who do not meet the listed minimum qualifications(they do get at least an automatic response that their information was received). They have already wasted some of my time, I will not let them waste another second of my time.
In the United Third World States of America you are just below an animal so don't expect anything. Don't expect to be treated civilly as an employee no matter how much effort you put into your job. Don't expect to be compensated for any extra Herculean effort and mostly don't expect to be allowed to have any complaints about anything the organization does to you. After all there are thousands of candidates just waiting to take your place that are just as good as you are. And the company will prove that by swapping out your position with the nephew of the CIO if you don't like it.
Corporate America thinks it's in the catbird seat. It thinks it can treat people any way it wants and mostly it's right because you yoyos keep sending idiots to congress that are wholly owned by Big Business. When the Unions are gone and there is no more social security, minimum wage(you know there are people trying to get rid of the minimum wage right now)and no more unemployment please feel free to smile at your stupid mug in the mirror because your dumb decisions have gotten us there.
As a small business owner who searched for 4 months for one employee, I can tell you--while many job seekers have excellent resumes and former experience, the number of applications we received that literally stated they were seeking a position doing NOTHING we were looking for was disheartening. It was obvious they were simply fulfilling their resume submission quota for unemployment. With those people I didn't waste my time. With those that appeared truly interested, I sent a follow up email.
The girl that called us EVERY DAY asking us the status of her application? After a week we told her to stop calling. There was no way we were hiring her. You can only follow up so much without being annoying and she had definitely passed that limit.
By the way, the man we ended up hiring was a recent veteran and he has been a wonderful employee.
Considering how poorly many companies treat their customers, its no wonder they treat job applicants like riff-raff.