Job searching can be frustrating and stressful – not to mention anxiety-driven – but also sometimes filled with hope and excitement for a new opportunity on the horizon. Most people aren’t huge fans of multiple interviews, constantly selling themselves, or the uncertainty of when an exciting offer will come their way. Here are some considerations to try to put it in to a healthy perspective.
Yes, you will feel stressed and anxious. If you can, allow yourself to accept these feelings as part of your journey in life. Take note of what can you do to move forward, and hopefully it will propel your energy into time and space that is well spent.
Just know that you are not alone on a myriad of questions that no one has really answered for you. That is mostly due to the other side of the table which usually includes Human Resources and a Hiring Manager.
Question: What is the status of my application?
Answer: It really depends. Did you apply online? Is it sitting in an ATS (Applicant Tracking System = software to track job applicants and open job requisitions)? Has anyone looked at it? Have you gone through a recruiter and are waiting to hear back? Have you sent it to a friend or former colleague who works at that institution? Do we know if this position is still open?
Ideas to move forward: If there is anyone you can get in touch with about your application, do it. Send a polite email to them asking if there’s any chance if the position is still open and/or if your application has been reviewed. If there is no one to get in touch with, keep moving forward in your job searching. ATS’s are GREAT for the employer. They help track applicants and scan for keywords. The challenge is they may not be great for the job seeker and might be sitting in a black hole. Consider that 300 job searching applications are sitting there with yours.
It’s not that you are not good enough. And it’s not that you don’t have what it takes. It’s that your resume is combined with a lot of other information and may not even have been reviewed. They may have also filled the position and didn’t take the posting down.
OR, clients change their minds all the time – maybe they are going in a new direction with this role. See if you can find out the status first. And if you can’t, move on. You can learn more about ATS here from Jobscan.
Question: May I have feedback from my interview(s)?
Answer: Most likely, no. They may give you some simple answer “You didn’t quite have the experience they were looking for” or “We’ve hired an internal applicant.” Without getting into too many details and legal guidelines (that I’m not even sure I’m aware of), company representatives often cannot give too much feedback to an interview for fear of being sued. They don’t want to be sued for ageism, sexism, etc. so it’s easier to not give any feedback.
Please excuse the gross oversimplification here, but also think about the company. They may be trying to recruit new employees for 100s of positions. If they interview even 3-5 people per position, they just don’t have the time to give detailed feedback to every interview. Try to think back to a time that maybe you had a crush on someone and or were dating and it just didn’t fit or feel right. Did you want to have to give a detailed explanation or did you just hope you (and they) could move on? Move on if it’s not a right fit. NEXT.
Question: If not a fit for this role, am I fit for other roles within the organization?
Answer: You can certainly ask this if you are given a rejection (and not ghosted). The truth is, the team (or people) you were interviewing with are most likely not concerned with too many other roles in the organization. They may not have been briefed on what others are looking for nor care – going back to the time thing, they just don’t have a lot of it.
However, it could be worth asking on the off-chance that Jim from another department did mention to them he was looking for someone like you. However, if you don’t hear back on that, definitely do not take it personally. They likely have no clue and it may take you applying to another position or another person in your network helping you to identify this other role during the job searching process.
Question: Why did the recruiter ghost me?
Answer: Honestly, I’m sorry that they did. It’s crappy and doesn’t feel good. It’s disrespectful and really doesn’t leave a good impression. I don’t have an excuse for them other than to say that they’re busy working to fill roles. It’s unlikely that they are on a 100% commission basis but if they are, think about how they need to move on to the next thing to keep food on their table. And even though most get paid a decent base salary, each role does lead to commission for them. It is part of their job responsibilities to find and hire the right talent. Recruiters have a lot of metrics they need to hit and they only have so much time in the day like everyone else. They may not have the luxury of time to follow up with every person that is not the right fit.
I still believe they should let you know, but chalk it up as something out of control, do your best to move on.
Request to HR/Recruiters
If there is any way at all that you can make sure you keep in touch with your job searching candidates (even if it’s to say you don’t have new updates), you will really help their anxiety and help them balance timelines and possibly other interviews and offers.
As this article from Evil HR lady shares, if you are unable to give them feedback regarding their rejection for a position, consider offering a couple things you feel they could approve upon. Your advice may not even be job specific but here are some ideas to consider that may be helpful to the job seeker:
- Make sure you answer the phone with enthusiasm and not sound like I interrupted you or you just woke up.
- Be sure to do company and role research for every single interview.
- Dress to impress – even if it’s a virtual interview (and don’t forget to test your camera and audio before).
- Turn off your phone and IM notifications when interviewing to minimize distractions.
- Thank you emails or snail mail are still more than welcome and a nice gesture.
- Google yourself and do a quick look at what a recruiter might see if they Google you – are impressive and professional details coming up? If not, you may want to work on pushing out some thoughtful content.
- Tread lightly with insincere LinkedIn connection requests.
You cannot control the process so you must hold onto your hope and continue to make efforts. Hopefully this help shares some insights and helps to normalize this process.
Mariana - Springs Realty Scoop
October 20, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Absolutely brilliant – Definitely on the same page as I am. Thank you.
Reuben Moore
October 20, 2007 at 6:40 pm
IMO, if we had real standards in this business we would see less of this. Either at the licensing level or at the er, REALTOR® level. The big-haired irony is that, as it stands today, it’s far easier to get a real estate license than it is to get a license to cut hair. I mean really, what else could these guys do for a living???
So for now, this has to be addressed at the firm level. Just don’t hire them….
Chris Lengquist
October 20, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Benn, how do you know when a woman in Texas has “big hair”? Sorry – that was a cheap shot.
But so was your posting. And I liked it. I once heard a guy say the reason he got into real estate was to piss off the town’s top agent who he described as a chain-smoking-cadillac-driving-nonstop-talking-100 year old lady. It was hilarious.
And your point about the car is hilarious as well. I’ve seen agents get so uptight about their car thinking they have to have that status car to make people think they are successful. And I’m thinking “BUT YOUR CLIENTS ARE IN THE $150$200 CATEGORY…THEY AIN’T DRIVING THOSE EITHER!!!”
Anyway, I have to go. My double mocha with a squirt of carmel, goat-milk with paprika, extra tall latte is almost finished? I hope I have $10 for this beverage.
Chris Lengquist
October 20, 2007 at 9:50 pm
And by the way. I love the G-Love tab. But don’t you also need & Special Sauce?
Cindy
October 20, 2007 at 10:18 pm
A few months ago while standing in a check out line I heard a rather loud man discussing in unpleasant &^%* words a client of his. I turned around and there for everyone to see was the name of the real estate brokerage he worked for. Oh please. I wonder how much business he lost for his company that day?
Benn Rosales
October 20, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Cindy, I know exactly who this agent is, she yelled her name several times, and also her company. That was the only good thing to come of it- folks knew what brokerage recruited from the trailor park. Unfortunately, for the profession, the damage is done.
Benn Rosales
October 21, 2007 at 1:17 am
Benn, how do you know when a woman in Texas has “big hair”? Dallas, Houston = land of the big hair, any big hair you see here is a transplant or in real estate or both.
This isn’t just about the ladies either. There is actually a top producer here who male, and has had enough plastic surgery to – well, I don’t know, just keep the ac on low. His mail order brider, mixed with his southern preacher style of selling is a powerful turnoff combination.
Norm Fisher
October 21, 2007 at 1:55 am
You’re not being mean. You’d be doing her a huge favour if you found a way to get this post to her.
While every profession has its share of idiots, agents are the worst for loudmouthing on a mobile phone.
Don’t get me starting on taking calls during client meetings. They may say they don’t mind, but 95% of the time they think you’re a real jackass. The rest of the world can get by without you for a flippin’ hour folks!
Jeff Brown
October 21, 2007 at 3:02 am
What’s big hair?
Benn Rosales
October 21, 2007 at 3:13 am
Jeff, the exact opposite of what’s on your head, baldone!
Benn Rosales
October 21, 2007 at 3:13 am
Norm- no, in fact, I aim to get you started!
ines
October 21, 2007 at 4:27 am
flipping hilarious!! Thanks for the good laugh and for reminding us what to look forward to every day in this business. I love Real Estate!
Laurie Manny
October 21, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Hilarious! Every town has it’s share of these. I want to know how to get them to stop admiring themselves in the mirror or window glass while they are screaming into their cell phones.
Norm Fisher
October 22, 2007 at 1:17 am
Thank you Benn. I will be in touch.
monika
October 22, 2007 at 2:57 am
I recognize some of them here in NH too. Thanks for laugh!
Thomas Johnson
October 22, 2007 at 3:15 am
Benn: Now I know why my cell phone has that little video camera in it. Snap, Click-off to youtube, (and my listing presentation?)!
Benn Rosales
October 22, 2007 at 3:17 am
Thomas, you know what, I was tempted, but there’s that whole legal thing.
Sue
July 10, 2008 at 8:09 pm
From Mariana’s penguin post to here, so funny. I guess every town has Realtors like this. Actually I’ve seen them surface over night after one sale!
Downtown Vancouver Realtor
November 13, 2008 at 9:47 pm
In every game there are players that suck and players that are good.
The question you have to ask is why are people hiring realtors like this?
Bill Lublin
July 26, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Nothing to say but 😉
Jim Gilbert
July 26, 2009 at 10:33 pm
There are those who have an inflated sense of self-importance. I delight in finding those who actually do their jobs and put their clients first.
Ian Greenleigh
July 27, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Thank God they have WiFi in my tanning booth, because this was hilarious. I have my face on every urinal cake in every Bennigan’s from here to El Paso, and I won’t stop now.
Bill Cobb
July 27, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Here’s the Kicker Here! Do you actually think that Agent that shows up dressed to kill, with their 6% entitlement mentality, is going to smear that makeup with perspiration by actually measure the home they want to “professionally” represent to a buyer? A buyer that’s going to pay $140/sf, where a 200sf error means the buyer could be overpaying by $28,000?
Let me ask this question: When is the proper time period in a home sale transaction to get the physical information about the home’s size correct, during the listing appointment or after the purchase agreement has been written and the appraiser shows up to tell all parties that the home wasn’t measured and the subject is actually 200sf smaller than represented by the listing agent? The Listing Agent is Duty Bound to get it right during their initial appointment – that’s part of what they get paid 6% to do, accurately represent the home. 6% of An Average $225,000 sale is a whopping $13,500. The seller has their bags packed, is moving, has a purchase agreement on a another home that hinges on their current home closing at the selling price. Then the P.A. has to be renegotiated all because the home wasn’t measured by the agent. Or, the agent simply chose to copy the previous MLS listings and not even updating the new listing. How did the current Real Estate Industry ever become so sloppy? What I see happening is these new rookie agents are being trained to skip several important steps along with way and think you’re nuts when you remind them of how it’s supposed to be done. Actually measure a home?…..that’s beneath some. Of course, I’m not describing the entire NAR here. In my market, about 25% of them are truly professionals, care about their clients and accurately represent a home. Thank God for these few!
Free Real Estate Agent Training Videos
July 27, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Wow, what an interesting blog post. It should give some real estate agents some pause. Luckily, there are a lot of quality realtors out there. Kudos!
hermanchan.com
November 7, 2010 at 2:43 am
exCUSE you benn! those were not capri menthol lites. i was puffing on benson & hedges lites! Get it right, will ya! 😉
Paul Francis
November 7, 2010 at 3:10 am
Living in Vegas… it’s not just the occasional Realtor that acts like this..