You did everything you were supposed to do. You met each step of the hiring process with a smile on your face and walked out of the final round of interviews supremely confident you just landed the job. The hiring manager may have even dropped a few not so subtle hints that you’d be a great fit for their organization and likely assured you that you’d be hearing back from them within a matter of days at most.
Fast forward a week or two, however, and you’re still waiting. As the days crawl by a dreadful, undeniable realization falls upon you. You can wait all you want but there’s no response coming. No follow-up interview, no job offer, not even a rejection email.
The frustrating sequence of events described above has become a near universal experience for modern professionals attempting to improve their lives and land a new job. If you’ve engaged in a job hunt over the past decade or so chances are you’ve been “ghosted” by a potential employer in some form or fashion.
While absolutely prevalent prior to 2020, this trend has accelerated mightily since the COVID-19 pandemic. Jobsite data spanning 2019-2022 indicates ghosting practices among employers have increased by an astounding 98% over the past few years. Even more recent data found that an astounding 4 in every 10 job candidates were ghosted in 2023 following a second or third round of interviews.
The reasons driving this trend aren’t quite clear. Perhaps it’s due to a surge in AI-powered hiring platforms, or the recent rise in more impersonal, remote work. Whatever the underlying catalyst, the fact remains ghosting is now standard practice for countless companies. While such a situation is hardly ideal, there are a few strategies jobseekers can employ if they find themselves staring at an empty inbox for over a week. Here’s what to do when it’s been a full week since an interview and you still haven’t heard back from an employer.
Remember perspective and patience
So it’s been about a week since your interview. You were expecting to see an email with a formal offer waiting in your inbox within a few hours, but now it’s day 7 or 8 and you’re still waiting. First of all, while something has clearly slowed the hiring process, don’t automatically assume the worst. You may not have been ghosted. There are myriad reasons why a hiring manager may not have gotten in touch yet.
It’s very easy to fall into a mental hole of self-doubt and rumination while waiting to hear back about a job, but in the vast majority of instances the delay has nothing to do with you. Hiring managers may still be interviewing other candidates, or an unexpected internal matter or company problem may have taken priority over filling that position for the time being. Similarly, perhaps one or more aspects of the position have changed and management is still determining exactly who will thrive in the revised role.
Reach out – Once!
Of course, just because the hiring company is busy for whatever reason doesn’t excuse their lack of communication. After diligently participating in the hiring process thus far you’re absolutely entitled to some type of follow-up. Now, many applicants always send a thank you email to hiring managers directly after attending a job interview. Regardless of whether or not you sent out a thank you email earlier, if a week has passed and you haven’t received any messages, feel free to reach out again with a follow-up email. This is especially so if the hiring manager directly told you at the end of the interview to expect news within a week’s time. While you may be tempted to go with a phone call instead, email is a less invasive way of reconnecting with decision makers, as it allows them to get back to you at their leisure.
Your follow-up email should be short, sweet, and while this hopefully goes without saying we’ll say it just to be thorough, non-confrontational. Regardless of how you really feel about the company making you wait, don’t sabotage your chances of landing a great gig by sending an accusatory message or demanding answers. It’s advisable to begin by thanking the manager once again for taking the time to meet with you the week prior. From there, spend just a few sentences touching on why you believe you would excel in the role, and perhaps add a few details from the interview as well. For instance, maybe you and the interviewer really connected over one particular topic or aspect of the job. This approach will help you immediately stand out from other candidates and remind the reader of just how well you interviewed in the first place.
If another week passes after you’ve sent a follow-up email, it’s advisable not to reach out again. We all know that hounding people for a response rarely leads to positive results. There’s still a decent chance you will hear back, but at this point it’s probably in your best interest to at least assume the opportunity didn’t work out. That way, if you do eventually hear from the company it will be a pleasant surprise.
Employers have plenty of options – but remember you do too
There’s no sugarcoating it. Being ghosted by an employer, especially after spending significant time interviewing, can be a deflating experience. Try to see such instances as opportunities for learning as opposed to time totally wasted. At the end of the day, one job is just that; a single position in a sea of exciting opportunities and fresh starts. If a particular employer can’t be bothered to send you a simple follow-up after an interview, it probably isn’t a company you want to work for anyway.
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