27 ms·

Ask HN: What to do when your Amazon recruiter ghosts you?

I had an Amazon "phone interview" which was a video call on Chime, with general background questions, live coding exercises and "Leadership Principles" questions. I don't think it was perfect, but I don't think it was bad either. However it has been over a week and I have 0 feedback from my recruiter even though I sent 2 follow-up emails. On the application tracking website it still says "under consideration", but I'm starting to get worried especially with recent layoff news. Should I be worried, or is this normal?

anon50118810 4y ago
I don't know much about how hiring works at Amazon, but for most employers, at this point you should just forget about it and move on. Two emails in a week is at the very edge of crossing into pushy or desperate. Of course there are also the layoffs, which you mentioned, and next week is a holiday in the U.S. which means hiring will slow down generally.
- thrwAwyAmzGhst 4y ago
  First email was just a thank you after the interview. Second email was this Friday (since i interviewed last Friday). Certainly, I'm not sending another one, but I wanted to check if this was due to my performance or more external factors. I spent a non-negligible amount of time preparing for the interview.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ushercakes 4y ago
I would just wait and see if you hear anything back from the email you sent today. The reality with Amazon is that recruiters are swamped and have insane quotas to meet, they unfortunately lose track of stuff often. On top of that, Amazon just laid off a bunch of people, and have publicly stated they plan to lay off a bunch more people. You may have been screwed by the hiring freeze, and basically signed up for an interview via an automated system with no real job on the other side.
softwaredoug 4y ago
You handle ghosting by setting some kind of deadline, with what happens if you don't hear back. This lets them know you interpret their lack of response as lack of interest, but also clearly sets the expectation you're in demand, there's other fish in the sea, and you're moving on. > Hey, thanks for chatting! I'm very enthusiastic about this [role|opportunity|etc]... I really enjoyed my chats with Sue and Bob... > I just need to know by Monday next week if we're moving forward the the process, as I have other opportunities I'm simultaneously pursuing. Then if/when you don't hear back, you move on with your life, and treat it like they're not interested. (I would also try to do this verbally as well, being really clear you want to know next steps, when you should hear back, and that you're not putting life on hold forever)
- anon50118810 4y ago
  I strongly recommend against telling them a made-up deadline or talking about the rest of your job search at all unless you have a firm offer in hand from someone else. Employers often ask questions if you bring up your job search and then you have no good options, either lying, walking it back or telling them information they don't need to know. I'd also avoid asking for a specific date by which you should hear back. If the date passes then any emails you send after that might look pathetic. It's fine to set a deadline for yourself though. Send your one or two emails and then if the particular date you've set for yourself goes past without a response, count it as over and done with. If they get back to you later, treat it as a pleasant surprise.
  - thrwAwyAmzGhst 4y ago
    Well I got my response: > the position is no longer available, so we cancel pending interviews
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
oldsklgdfth 4y ago
Maybe your recruiter was affected by the recent layoffs.
l33tc0de 4y ago
You celebrate, because more likely than not you dodged a bullet
rl1987 4y ago
You do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Ghosting candidates after wasting their time is the norm in the industry and you should focus on other interview processes.
ActorNightly 4y ago
2 things. First, Amazon has a hiring freeze in place. Secondly, those 10k layoffs are concentrated heavy in the HR department, specifically in recruiting, where people are being offered pretty decent severance pay. You could be stuck in limbo until this blows over, but I wouldn't bet on it. At this point, take whatever job you can get if you have others lined up.

anon50118810 4y ago

I don't know much about how hiring works at Amazon, but for most employers, at this point you should just forget about it and move on. Two emails in a week is at the very edge of crossing into pushy or desperate. Of course there are also the layoffs, which you mentioned, and next week is a holiday in the U.S. which means hiring will slow down generally.

thrwAwyAmzGhst 4y ago
First email was just a thank you after the interview. Second email was this Friday (since i interviewed last Friday). Certainly, I'm not sending another one, but I wanted to check if this was due to my performance or more external factors. I spent a non-negligible amount of time preparing for the interview.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

ushercakes 4y ago

I would just wait and see if you hear anything back from the email you sent today. The reality with Amazon is that recruiters are swamped and have insane quotas to meet, they unfortunately lose track of stuff often. On top of that, Amazon just laid off a bunch of people, and have publicly stated they plan to lay off a bunch more people. You may have been screwed by the hiring freeze, and basically signed up for an interview via an automated system with no real job on the other side.

softwaredoug 4y ago

You handle ghosting by setting some kind of deadline, with what happens if you don't hear back. This lets them know you interpret their lack of response as lack of interest, but also clearly sets the expectation you're in demand, there's other fish in the sea, and you're moving on. > Hey, thanks for chatting! I'm very enthusiastic about this [role|opportunity|etc]... I really enjoyed my chats with Sue and Bob... > I just need to know by Monday next week if we're moving forward the the process, as I have other opportunities I'm simultaneously pursuing. Then if/when you don't hear back, you move on with your life, and treat it like they're not interested. (I would also try to do this verbally as well, being really clear you want to know next steps, when you should hear back, and that you're not putting life on hold forever)

anon50118810 4y ago
I strongly recommend against telling them a made-up deadline or talking about the rest of your job search at all unless you have a firm offer in hand from someone else. Employers often ask questions if you bring up your job search and then you have no good options, either lying, walking it back or telling them information they don't need to know. I'd also avoid asking for a specific date by which you should hear back. If the date passes then any emails you send after that might look pathetic. It's fine to set a deadline for yourself though. Send your one or two emails and then if the particular date you've set for yourself goes past without a response, count it as over and done with. If they get back to you later, treat it as a pleasant surprise.
- thrwAwyAmzGhst 4y ago
  Well I got my response: > the position is no longer available, so we cancel pending interviews
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

oldsklgdfth 4y ago

Maybe your recruiter was affected by the recent layoffs.

l33tc0de 4y ago

You celebrate, because more likely than not you dodged a bullet

rl1987 4y ago

You do nothing. Absolutely nothing. Ghosting candidates after wasting their time is the norm in the industry and you should focus on other interview processes.

ActorNightly 4y ago

2 things. First, Amazon has a hiring freeze in place. Secondly, those 10k layoffs are concentrated heavy in the HR department, specifically in recruiting, where people are being offered pretty decent severance pay. You could be stuck in limbo until this blows over, but I wouldn't bet on it. At this point, take whatever job you can get if you have others lined up.