Looking for a job is often a strenuous and lengthy process, which makes it all the more nerve-wracking when the companies you applied to don’t hear from you. What waiting times are usual, when can you ask questions – and what should you pay attention to?
“Ghosting” at work has increased in recent years – Emine Yilmaz, Vice President at the human resources consulting firm Robert Half, explains to BusinessInsider. Ghosting means (suddenly) ignoring people, in this case employees. During the application process, this can mean that companies don’t hear from you after an interview or that there is radio silence right from the start after the application has been received. What is the best way to deal with this?
Expert: “Such behavior cannot be justified.”
Tech recruiter Katrin Kikolova from ABOUT YOU is quoted by t3n as saying on this question: “It’s absolutely fine to inquire about your application after a reasonable period of time.” Because, Yilmaz told BusinessInsider: “Such behavior [der Firmen] cannot be justified. The effort [der Bewerber] Not even rewarding with an answer shows low appreciation.” After all, you’re wondering why there’s no answer and what you might have done wrong. Plus, you might have several application processes going on at the same time and have to coordinate them with each other, so you might lose Options if a company does not respond.
Feedback is usually not left out intentionally, but is forgotten or lost in poorly organized human resources departments, says Yilmaz. However, since this is no justification for the lack of appreciation, it is only right to follow up.
“Stubbornness and empathy” are the path to success when communicating with companies
Opinions differ when it comes to the question of when exactly you can follow up: Kikolova thinks that an initial follow-up is appropriate two weeks after receipt of the application and one week after an interview if it has already taken place. Yilmaz also believes that a period of at least two weeks after receipt of the application makes sense – the job portal StepStone recommends a five-week waiting period at the beginning of the application process and a two-week waiting period after an interview. In any case, all experts advise always being friendly and accommodating despite the lack of appreciation, but definitely not becoming impatient and putting companies under pressure. Careersprung.de recommends a “mixture of persistence and empathy”.
As a communication medium, StepStone recommends the telephone if a personal interview has already taken place and contact by email if only the application has been submitted so far. Other channels are inappropriate and should be avoided at all costs, according to the job portal.
No response – first look for the error yourself
Before sending such a request, however, according to the experts, you should definitely check that the mistake is not yours. According to StepStone, incomplete online applications are often automatically sorted out by the computer and do not even reach the company. Other reasons why applicants may not receive a response could be that the deadline had already expired or, for example, in the email address the recipient has a letter mistake. Also possible – but not the applicants’ mistake: “Companies advertise in order to show economic strength, also to lenders and the bank, according to the motto: We are expanding, we are doing well […] This also includes wanting to unsettle the competition or annoy them a bit about how wonderfully business is going,” says career advisor Jürgen Hesse in an interview with t3n.
Unappreciative communication as a warning signal for applicants
The only option if the company doesn’t respond even after asking is to end it and continue applying elsewhere. Careerbibel.de encourages affected applicants by saying that they might not have wanted to work with such a low-value company anyway and that the application process could be viewed as a good warning signal. The various experts explain in the media that it is also okay to leave a (bad) review on the company’s website or LinkedIn profile in such a case.
Editorial team finanzen.net