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Just had an interview for your dream job, the interviewer advised you would hear back in the next couple of days, but you’ve been waiting anxiously by the phone for 3 days and nothing, no response.
So why does it take so long to hear back from an interview? And how long should you expect to wait?
It’s likely the delay isn’t because of you, or that you’re out of the running, so don’t panic! Even if you’ve been waiting a few days, be patient and hang in there.
There could be a number of reasons why it takes time to hear back. Different firms have different processes to follow, but most importantly they will need to make time to discuss and compare you against other candidates with HR and the powers that be.
Let’s start off with the harsh one, you’ve been unsuccessful and they haven’t let you know yet (poor… we know!). However, there could be other reasons and it may be that you are still under consideration, for example:
It’s likely they are still interviewing other candidates – a good way to understand where they are in the process is ask about timeframes in your interview, as this may give you an indication of when you’re likely to hear back.
The whole recruitment process can be delayed due to absences by both the interviewer and interviewee – perhaps a key decision maker is away which will most certainly cause a delay. We definitely experience noticeable delays especially around the school holidays.
Perhaps a work or a personal unexpected matter has cropped up taking the interviewers away from recruitment being their number 1 priority.
Any other changes in a team can delay the need to hire someone right now, the position may be placed on hold. If this is the case it doesn’t mean they didn’t like you, it just means they can’t hire anyone right now.
It could be that a firm is going through some internal process changes and are finalising their budgets which doesn’t enable them to respond as quickly as they’d like. This delay shouldn’t be taken as a reflection on the team’s feedback or how you performed at interview.
Of course you’re super keen to hear how you’ve done, but it’s a case of the waiting game! Obviously you don’t want to come across as needy or even high maintenance, so if you do chase, do so in a respectful way, don’t act impatient or rude.
Remember the saying… no news is good news! However, we would advise to keep being proactive, whilst you are waiting, apply for more jobs to increase your chances of attending more interviews - you don’t want to put all your “eggs in one basket”. You never know, you could end up with two offers to think about and wouldn’t that be a good quandary to be in!?
Pictured top: Toni O'Flaherty, Director at Select Recruitment
