4 ms·

At least you get a response even if it is a rejection letter. I have heard - not experienced - that sometimes you just don't hear back from the company at all,

At least you get a response even if it is a rejection letter. I have heard - not experienced - that sometimes you just don't hear back from the company at all, which seems worse to me.

nosseo 8y ago
I get why companies don't do honest rejection letters, but this there's no excuse for whatsoever.
- PascLeRasc 8y ago
  It'd be nice to have some kind of public list where we could report companies that ghost, to warn other engineers to stay away.
  - sigstoat 8y ago
    seems like the interviews portion of glassdoor would support that? (caveats re trusting glassdoor, blah blah)
  - paulie_a 8y ago
    Just write up a review on glassdoor. Specifically calling them out for a crappy interview process. Or if you are really bold and bother with linkedin, make a post.
  - FLUX-YOU 8y ago
    You can't trust this because candidates do get petty when they get rejected and invent or omit details. That happens often on glassdoor.
    - mmt 8y ago
      Just like with any "crowdsourced" review site, I find value in the reviews, even if I don't, strictly, trust them. Of particular value are multiple reviews that corroborate certain details, especially in the absence of reviews providing contradictory details. At the very least, with something like "ghosting" during the interview process, it can help set expectations and inform behavior such as follow-up. For example, if interview reports complain of ghosting, I might still apply, but I wouldn't exert as much (if any) effort in soliciting a post-interview reply.
wrecursion 8y ago
It absolutely is worse to not hear back at all. As someone who has dealt with this recently, the one positive thing I can tell myself about the experience is that I would not work for a company that cannot be bothered to write a rejection letter. It reminds me of a restaurant I worked at in my youth - because the owner and her daughter were so conflict averse - rather than fire someone, they would just slowly write them off the schedule. Sad.
- jstarfish 8y ago
  > because the owner and her daughter were so conflict averse - rather than fire someone, they would just slowly write them off the schedule. Firing someone (without cause) leaves you open to having unemployment claims filed against you. Writing them off the schedule so they're forced to quit on their own accord negates that leverage; underemployment claims are harder for complainants to pursue/win. Restaurant owners being the stingy type, I guarantee you this wasn't done to avoid hurting employee feelings.
  - gamblor956 8y ago
    Hourly workers who have their hours dropped below a minimum threshold qualify for unemployment in many states, as that is frequently treated as a de-facto layoff.
  - wrecursion 8y ago
    You make a strong, valid point. However, in this case, as someone who worked there for a long time, and knew both the owner, and her family rather well.... I can say with absolute certainty it was to avoid the conflict / hard feelings.
hunterjrj 8y ago
This happened to me. Several rounds of interviews with a well known colored-hat company, then... nothing. No response to follow-ups either. What was especially frustrating to me was that up to that point, the tone of both the conversations and email exchanges was very positive and cordial. I would have expected a "Thanks, but no thanks" follow-up at least, especially considering I was an internal referral from a Sr. Mgr. But... nothing. Made my reconsider my view of that particular company.
- pandler 8y ago
  When this has happened to me before with bigger companies, I finally get a rejection letter months after the fact. My guess is that it’s them hedging and not wanting to reject until they’ve filled the position.
- jopsen 8y ago
  Lots of companies are a mess internally. If in 2-3 weeks you haven't heard from the recruiter, you should ping them back, if no response don't was further time and move along. Interviews often seem like hit and miss. I would recommend training at geeksforgeeks.org just to refresh dynamic programming, etc. But beyond that you're better off applying multiple places.
dbcurtis 8y ago
I’ve had that. But not from anyone I cared about after going through the interview. Unsurprisingly.
lexicality 8y ago
Yeah, I was referred to a company and went through the full interview process, ended with a cheerful sounding "talk to you soon" and then zip. No messages and no replies to my emails. It took my friend there a week to find out that I'd been rejected.
pvarangot 8y ago
I had this happen on hires I was responsible for, but on "continuously open positions" or when the position is left vacant and the headcount repurposed to another position. I didn't find a useful or correct way to inform all the potential candidates about that change. That happened two times and I only sent the more generic e-mail we send for rejection telling the people that had had at least one face to face to apply for other positions if they were still interested in the company. For the easier case of filling the headcount up with someone and not wanting the rest it's easier to send a rejection e-mail, it's just not what always happens with every job opening.
lastofus 8y ago
I've personally experienced this with a YC backed company that still posts job listings on here. After 2 full days on-site with said company, I got radio silence. Not even a quick "thanks but no" email.
psychometry 8y ago
I've had this happen to me after a half-day interview. I chalk it up to incompetent and uninterested HR staff.
britch 8y ago
I once got a rejection from a company six months after I interviewed on site. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than hearing nothing at all
mcguire 8y ago
I'm still waiting to hear from SouthWest Research Institute. I interviewed there in 1990.
ConceptJunkie 8y ago
I haven't had much interviewing experience lately, since I was at my last job for 5 years and at my current job for 6, but over the past 15 years or so, I came to the conclusion that not hearing back was the norm rather than the exception. I think it's ludicrously unprofessional, but that's typical these days.

At least you get a response even if it is a rejection letter. I have heard - not experienced - that sometimes you just don't hear back from the company at all, which seems worse to me.

nosseo 8y ago

I get why companies don't do honest rejection letters, but this there's no excuse for whatsoever.

PascLeRasc 8y ago
It'd be nice to have some kind of public list where we could report companies that ghost, to warn other engineers to stay away.
- sigstoat 8y ago
  seems like the interviews portion of glassdoor would support that? (caveats re trusting glassdoor, blah blah)
- paulie_a 8y ago
  Just write up a review on glassdoor. Specifically calling them out for a crappy interview process. Or if you are really bold and bother with linkedin, make a post.
- FLUX-YOU 8y ago
  You can't trust this because candidates do get petty when they get rejected and invent or omit details. That happens often on glassdoor.
  - mmt 8y ago
    Just like with any "crowdsourced" review site, I find value in the reviews, even if I don't, strictly, trust them. Of particular value are multiple reviews that corroborate certain details, especially in the absence of reviews providing contradictory details. At the very least, with something like "ghosting" during the interview process, it can help set expectations and inform behavior such as follow-up. For example, if interview reports complain of ghosting, I might still apply, but I wouldn't exert as much (if any) effort in soliciting a post-interview reply.

wrecursion 8y ago

It absolutely is worse to not hear back at all. As someone who has dealt with this recently, the one positive thing I can tell myself about the experience is that I would not work for a company that cannot be bothered to write a rejection letter. It reminds me of a restaurant I worked at in my youth - because the owner and her daughter were so conflict averse - rather than fire someone, they would just slowly write them off the schedule. Sad.

jstarfish 8y ago
> because the owner and her daughter were so conflict averse - rather than fire someone, they would just slowly write them off the schedule. Firing someone (without cause) leaves you open to having unemployment claims filed against you. Writing them off the schedule so they're forced to quit on their own accord negates that leverage; underemployment claims are harder for complainants to pursue/win. Restaurant owners being the stingy type, I guarantee you this wasn't done to avoid hurting employee feelings.
- gamblor956 8y ago
  Hourly workers who have their hours dropped below a minimum threshold qualify for unemployment in many states, as that is frequently treated as a de-facto layoff.
- wrecursion 8y ago
  You make a strong, valid point. However, in this case, as someone who worked there for a long time, and knew both the owner, and her family rather well.... I can say with absolute certainty it was to avoid the conflict / hard feelings.

hunterjrj 8y ago

This happened to me. Several rounds of interviews with a well known colored-hat company, then... nothing. No response to follow-ups either. What was especially frustrating to me was that up to that point, the tone of both the conversations and email exchanges was very positive and cordial. I would have expected a "Thanks, but no thanks" follow-up at least, especially considering I was an internal referral from a Sr. Mgr. But... nothing. Made my reconsider my view of that particular company.

pandler 8y ago
When this has happened to me before with bigger companies, I finally get a rejection letter months after the fact. My guess is that it’s them hedging and not wanting to reject until they’ve filled the position.
jopsen 8y ago
Lots of companies are a mess internally. If in 2-3 weeks you haven't heard from the recruiter, you should ping them back, if no response don't was further time and move along. Interviews often seem like hit and miss. I would recommend training at geeksforgeeks.org just to refresh dynamic programming, etc. But beyond that you're better off applying multiple places.

dbcurtis 8y ago

I’ve had that. But not from anyone I cared about after going through the interview. Unsurprisingly.

lexicality 8y ago

Yeah, I was referred to a company and went through the full interview process, ended with a cheerful sounding "talk to you soon" and then zip. No messages and no replies to my emails. It took my friend there a week to find out that I'd been rejected.

pvarangot 8y ago

I had this happen on hires I was responsible for, but on "continuously open positions" or when the position is left vacant and the headcount repurposed to another position. I didn't find a useful or correct way to inform all the potential candidates about that change. That happened two times and I only sent the more generic e-mail we send for rejection telling the people that had had at least one face to face to apply for other positions if they were still interested in the company. For the easier case of filling the headcount up with someone and not wanting the rest it's easier to send a rejection e-mail, it's just not what always happens with every job opening.

lastofus 8y ago

I've personally experienced this with a YC backed company that still posts job listings on here. After 2 full days on-site with said company, I got radio silence. Not even a quick "thanks but no" email.

psychometry 8y ago

I've had this happen to me after a half-day interview. I chalk it up to incompetent and uninterested HR staff.

britch 8y ago

I once got a rejection from a company six months after I interviewed on site. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than hearing nothing at all

mcguire 8y ago

I'm still waiting to hear from SouthWest Research Institute. I interviewed there in 1990.

ConceptJunkie 8y ago

I haven't had much interviewing experience lately, since I was at my last job for 5 years and at my current job for 6, but over the past 15 years or so, I came to the conclusion that not hearing back was the norm rather than the exception. I think it's ludicrously unprofessional, but that's typical these days.