Ask HN: What to do when ghosted halfway through an interview process

[effectorcupped]

I'm interviewing at a company I'm very excited about. The interview process has 3 steps: traditional screening/culture fit call with a recruiter, technical challenge with an engineer and then an onsite.

I've passed the two initial steps with flying colors (or so I though). The recruiter call was great and he verbally confirmed that he enjoyed the talk and would move forward my application. The technical challenge was good as well; I completed it in maybe 1/3 of the total available time and had good rapport with the engineer.

This was two weeks ago. The recruiter had initially said that he would definitively answer any emails I sent his way. I have sent two: one last week, one today. I have received nothing in response.

This isn't my first time doing an interview and I'm not new at the industry (this is a throwaway account). I'm wondering if maybe the engineering team is just taking longer than usual to convene and make a decision, maybe holiday schedules or something, but still I feel I should have received at least a ping back from the recruiter. I would definitively expect this if I had had poor performance, but that wasn't the case so I'm a bit aghast about how things are panning out.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

Whenever I find myself in a situation like this, I always ask myself "what can I do to move things forward?"

The answer is always to not wait for other people. They have their priorities and you are rarely one of them.

Call the engineer you spoke to.

Call the recruiter. Don't email: find his number and call him.

Call anyone else there you had contact with.

It's perfectly normal to want to know what's going on after any phase of an interview. Be proactive.

[blowski]

There can be all sorts of reasons for this, many completely outside your control, and possibly outside the control of your recruiter.

In one of the first situations where I had to hire someone, I got caught up in politics during recruitment. I kept procrastinating on the difficult conversation I needed to have with somebody I interviewed. I’m not proud that I effectively ghosted somebody, but the whole thing made me feel so rubbish that I wanted to stick my head in the sand. Another time, somebody told me they’d called all the candidates - turns out he only called some of them due to an innocent mistake.

In your position, I’d make clear that you’re worried about losing other offers, so you need a response by end of Thursday or you’re going to withdraw your application (or something like that). See if you can also go through the generic company address, in case somebody’s off sick and not dealing with emails.

[effectorcupped → blowski]

>In your position, I’d make clear that you’re worried about losing other offers, so you need a response by end of Thursday or you’re going to withdraw your application

Won't that sound a bit like a threat though?

During the initial phone call, I did make it clear that I had other offers coming in in December (which is true), so maybe the recruiter just has that deadline in mind.

[blowski → effectorcupped]

I guess you're worried about coming across aggressive because it could put them off. In my experience, you can phrase that "assertively" - something like:

> Hi, I imagine you either haven't seen my email or haven't been able to reply for some reason yet. I'm really keen to follow up our initial chats because I liked my interview and the company, so I've been nervous about sending this email in case it comes over as aggressive or impatient. However, I am in a position where I could lose other opportunities if I don't give them an answer, and I don't want to lose those if I'm no longer a candidate for the position here. If I don't hear back from you by Thursday night, I'll have to assume that you're not interested in continuing on this occasion. I'm available on email and mobile, and I would really appreciate a follow up so I know what to do next.

[masukomi → effectorcupped]

never make false deadlines. If you do you may get called on it. "oh, sorry. We can't get back to you by ____. Good luck with the other position."

you can't say "oh actually there aren't other offers i was lying to you to get you to move faster. No worries right?"

[janbernhart]

Where is the company located? I know that in some regions, 'ghosting' is a common way to reject candidates. (Which I find absurd). But maybe the recruiter is just sick/sacked/scum. Do you have the name(s) of the technical interviewer? Perhaps you can contact them directly(company email addresses typically follow the same pattern).

[effectorcupped → janbernhart]

>Where is the company located?

Canada.

>Do you have the name(s) of the technical interviewer?

Unfortunately I don't remember his name.

[zhte415 → effectorcupped]

Searching through LinkedIn might jog your memory.

[_jx7j]

I worked for a company once that went through an extended period of "cost controls." The end result was a cycle of hiring and hiring freezes, and many people would start interviews during a hiring period and then partway through the interview process would get caught in a hiring freeze.

Some HR people basically stopped responding to interviewees during these hiring freezes. It was stupid and extremely unprofessional. We had some great candidates who got caught in this.

Maybe your recruiter went on vacation and didn't set their out of office properly. Or maybe it is a case of severe stupidity like what I described above.

Either way, it's not your fault. I'd wait a week or two and email again. If you really like the job/company I'd try to find somebody who interviewed you on LinkedIn and contact them. Otherwise just forget it.

[meiraleal]

The same that I'd do when a girl I'm dating don't reply my invitations:let it go and go for the next one. Obsessive behavior rarely leads to fruitful outcomes. They might have their own reasons not necessarily related to you. Move on.

[muzani]

Follow up. They get busy often. The common advice is to spend 80% focus on recruiting when recruiting, but usually companies that are hiring have a lot of excess things to do. They may hesitate as they have no manpower to start training people, but deep down inside they know they need to. I've been in some companies where they waited about 2 months to get back to the best candidate.

You also have to keep in mind the secretary problem here. Once rejected, an applicant cannot be recalled. You could be among the top 3 candidates, but there are still 20 uninterviewed, and they want to hold it out as long as possible.

[rajacombinator]

Just move on to the next one. A lot of recruiters and companies lack professionalism and will just ghost you. Could be for any number of reasons related or unrelated to you.

[downerending]

Could be all kinds of reasons, most having nothing to do with you. Agree with others that there's little harm in being a squeaky wheel--ping them several times at reasonable intervals.

Beyond that, though, always ask yourself whether you want to work for a company that seems incompetent or rude in their recruiting. They're generally on their best behavior now. What will things be like after you're hired?

[sergiotapia]

The recruiters work hard to get you placed at a company. Ping the recruiter and let him work hard for you. The people interviewing you are working and you don't know what kind of fires or priority shifts have occurred. It's a hard pill to swallow but you're most likely not the #1 priority on anyones mind.

No malice is probably intended by the team, they just forgot about you.

[samfisher83]

I have to give some props to facebook. Even though I didn't get the job the recruiters there kept me in the loop the entire way.

[seren]

You might be a good candidate, but the recruiter has scheduled another interview next week with another candidate, and might want to see all candidates before answering.

[effectorcupped → seren]

I considered this as well, but I don't see the harm of updating the candidates on this, from the recruiter's point of view.

[kleer001]

Move on.

Simply if they had their ducks in a row AND they wanted you they'd call you. Either of those could be negative. None of those three combinations require your input.

[alexfromapex]

The company doesn’t feel it has gone as well as you do or they would be in touch quickly. Most likely, they want to interview other candidates. They aren’t ghosting you but I bet they will take a month or two before they tell you they are moving forward with other candidates. It’s a weird system used by bad companies.

That or the recruiter already placed another candidate or left the firm. Two weeks is a long time.

[notkaiho]

Have you called the recruiter? Remember that they don't get paid unless you get placed.

[effectorcupped → notkaiho]

I only have his email, and I have emailed twice already.

[notkaiho → effectorcupped]

You work in IT. There is categorically no way for you to only be stuck with an email address.