Early in the week I received an email to interview asking for availability for that same week. I respond promptly. I don't get a response the entire week and at the end-of-day on Friday I send an email asking if I'm still being considered. It has been two week since that initial email and still no response. Am I being impatient? Do you move on at this point or keep pecking until you get some sort of response?
They have this new invention called the telephone. Use it.
Be polite, but let the person who e-mailed know that you're interested and available at their convenience.
If they've already filled the position then they've shown bad form in not letting you know (actually, even if they're still interviewing they've showed bad form). But even if you get bad news, be polite and express interest in future openings. Even ask if you can check in a couple of months to see if they have anything opening up.
it's possible they just forgot about what they sent you because there was too much other stuff going on or something, or you slipped down the priority list because something else came up. i would follow up with a phone call to remind them that they already contacted you to set up an interview (show that you're not cold-calling), and that you would be happy to do what you can to work around you schedule. this does indicate it's not a very organized office though.
people typically answer emails when i send them. if they're not answering your emails carrera, there might be a reason.
Curt, let’s not get personal, I was referring to business. Working on a cottage and needed quotes for a fireplace insert, sent 4 emails and only 1 answer. Sent 2 emails to get a price for a hot tub, zero answers; sent an email with questions on a new boat, no answer; contacted 4 snow/lawn companies for prices, zero answers; 2 emails to get insurance quotes, zero. These people have no idea who I am…the whole world is for sale but you can’t buy anything. Used to think that the internet would make brick & mortar obsolete but I don’t think so…..the only thing that works is Amazon….ordered a Fat Max last week, standard shipping, got it the next day! How is that possible? Wonder if they have boats.
After two weeks, it's a dead end. I start losing hope after a few days. By a week I give up and move on with my life. They may or may not call. It's sort of like dating. Don't be clingy, don't act like you don't care either.
Oh, and weird stuff works to. My wife swears by hand writing a 'thank you for the opportunity' note reinforcing contact info and 'I want that job' and snail mailing or hand dropping it off. That gets more attention than an email or voice mail and gets right past that front counter who's filtering out that 'spam'. It stands out because no one does that anymore and is most effective with 'older generation' management and isn't a paste & clip chain letter job.
carrera, that picture was kind of what i was trying to say. i've got a bunch of emails already today from people thinking i should give them money for LEED courses of various sorts. i don't know them, and i did not reply to any of them.
the emails i sent today were all related to ongoing projects, and they included relevant questions or answers as part of the process of completing the project. every one that i was expecting a response from, i got a response. of course the speed in which this particular team responds is fairly fast. often it takes a couple days, but still if the message is relevant and not spammy, responses are more typical than not.
yesterday i sent woot! a question about shipping for an order i placed (as it so happens, woot! is now owned by amazon). they replied as i was waking up really early this morning.
if you sent someone an email asking for an insurance quote and they don't respond, there's a fair chance they don't want to sell you insurance. their reasons might not be personal, but i wouldn't say people don't respond to emails. if they wanted to give you a quote they would have (or it just takes them a while to prepare it). your expectation that they should be required to give you a quote as soon as you ask, or even that they should want to form a business relationship with you, might be misplaced.
Curt - I think what’s misplaced is your thinking, but you’re not alone, so don’t take it personal. I answer everybody, about anything. I learned that from a close friend who is worth north of $100 million, 74, principally retired…when I’m with him his phone always rings and he picks-up on the spot and never even looks at the screen to see who/what is calling. I actually learned it from him 40 years ago when I made my first million answering a cold call from my for-sale sign. He says “you never know where a contact will lead”.
I spend over $10,000 a year on insurance for holdings…someone said on here that sales come from relationships, who knows what could develop from a simple cottage quote. Jeff Bezos answers 400,000 times a day and is worth $34.7 Billion….I don’t think he said “Fat Max? I don’t have time for a $20.00 Fat Max”.
What people do is screen everything and then they run a scenario in their head about where it may lead, then decide the scenario is correct and don’t answer. Brilliant, guess my friend and I got it all wrong. Guess it’s just your stuff that’s important, only what you think will lead anywhere.
Retired, I still get cold emails from reps and I answer every one out of common courtesy. Just a short note explaining I’m out of the game and thanking them for thinking of me. Silence is hurtful, in any form.
your assumption on the insurance person is that they are motivated by getting rich?
i, of course, am not the insurance person. so to project what (s)he believes on me is probably a mistake. i'm just throwing out some possibilities. while i'm not as motivated by money alone as some people are, i probably would have tried to sell you a policy just based on my work ethic (assuming my job was to sell you an insurance policy). also, it's quite possible the person on the other end of the email doesn't actually get a commission or any other sort of personal benefit from selling you a policy, so profit motive is no longer applicable. it could be that all profit trickles up, which might be different now compared to when you were younger. could have been a sickness in the family. maybe the person you tried to contact was fired the day before and the email system wasn't updated.
jeff bezos did not sell you a tape measure. that was automated. most emails i get from leed spam are automated. a lot of calls that come into the office are automated. taking time to answer every dodge report or mcgraw hill solicitation really does become burdensome after a while. i don't know whether your 100 million dollar friend was receiving automated calls when he could have otherwise been directing his attention towards you in real life, but it's possible the world has changed enough that people have had to change with it. different doesn't mean better.
anyway, good luck afrdzak. replacing a real life interview with a phone interview is probably not a good sign, but you never know. did you get a time set up to go in an meet people?
Thanks curtkram. The office is on other other side of the country so an in-person interview is not the most feasible. We'll see if anything comes out of this phone call. I think that's the most I can do before getting a restraining order as wise d[-_-]b mentioned.
Curt - Obviously can’t answer a machine, but if you can’t answer you should get a machine to respond. Of 12 emails I don’t think they were all dead or at funerals. Getting “rich” has nothing to do with it….I listen to all the complaining about just making a living on here and I’ve never met a person who survived in a vacuum. Things often come to you in very indirect ways and if you get clairvoyant about the outcome you will end up in a vacuum.
Well, I recently came across their job posting which was posted after I received that initial email and before I called. I don't meet half their requirements.
Thank you, interviewer, for not owning up to your mistake, wasting my time, energy of hope, and for the unnecessary ego check.
Mar 4, 15 4:32 pm ·
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How hard to push for that one interview?
Early in the week I received an email to interview asking for availability for that same week. I respond promptly. I don't get a response the entire week and at the end-of-day on Friday I send an email asking if I'm still being considered. It has been two week since that initial email and still no response. Am I being impatient? Do you move on at this point or keep pecking until you get some sort of response?
If they're not considering a protection order you haven't pushed hard enough.
They have this new invention called the telephone. Use it.
Be polite, but let the person who e-mailed know that you're interested and available at their convenience.
If they've already filled the position then they've shown bad form in not letting you know (actually, even if they're still interviewing they've showed bad form). But even if you get bad news, be polite and express interest in future openings. Even ask if you can check in a couple of months to see if they have anything opening up.
You're right. Thanks.
Ahh....good ol' email, nobody answers email or the phone for that matter, try smoke-signals.
it's possible they just forgot about what they sent you because there was too much other stuff going on or something, or you slipped down the priority list because something else came up. i would follow up with a phone call to remind them that they already contacted you to set up an interview (show that you're not cold-calling), and that you would be happy to do what you can to work around you schedule. this does indicate it's not a very organized office though.
people typically answer emails when i send them. if they're not answering your emails carrera, there might be a reason.
Curt, let’s not get personal, I was referring to business. Working on a cottage and needed quotes for a fireplace insert, sent 4 emails and only 1 answer. Sent 2 emails to get a price for a hot tub, zero answers; sent an email with questions on a new boat, no answer; contacted 4 snow/lawn companies for prices, zero answers; 2 emails to get insurance quotes, zero. These people have no idea who I am…the whole world is for sale but you can’t buy anything. Used to think that the internet would make brick & mortar obsolete but I don’t think so…..the only thing that works is Amazon….ordered a Fat Max last week, standard shipping, got it the next day! How is that possible? Wonder if they have boats.
As for personal, remember this...........
After two weeks, it's a dead end. I start losing hope after a few days. By a week I give up and move on with my life. They may or may not call. It's sort of like dating. Don't be clingy, don't act like you don't care either.
Oh, and weird stuff works to. My wife swears by hand writing a 'thank you for the opportunity' note reinforcing contact info and 'I want that job' and snail mailing or hand dropping it off. That gets more attention than an email or voice mail and gets right past that front counter who's filtering out that 'spam'. It stands out because no one does that anymore and is most effective with 'older generation' management and isn't a paste & clip chain letter job.
carrera, that picture was kind of what i was trying to say. i've got a bunch of emails already today from people thinking i should give them money for LEED courses of various sorts. i don't know them, and i did not reply to any of them.
the emails i sent today were all related to ongoing projects, and they included relevant questions or answers as part of the process of completing the project. every one that i was expecting a response from, i got a response. of course the speed in which this particular team responds is fairly fast. often it takes a couple days, but still if the message is relevant and not spammy, responses are more typical than not.
yesterday i sent woot! a question about shipping for an order i placed (as it so happens, woot! is now owned by amazon). they replied as i was waking up really early this morning.
if you sent someone an email asking for an insurance quote and they don't respond, there's a fair chance they don't want to sell you insurance. their reasons might not be personal, but i wouldn't say people don't respond to emails. if they wanted to give you a quote they would have (or it just takes them a while to prepare it). your expectation that they should be required to give you a quote as soon as you ask, or even that they should want to form a business relationship with you, might be misplaced.
Another factor is that so much spam is sent today that it's not unusual for real email to get delivered straight into the junk bin.
There's no easy answer, but I heeded bklyntotfc advice and called. It resulted in an impromptu first (phone) interview. We'll see where it leads to.
way to short circuit a days long discussion on the merits of email vs phone calls
Curt - I think what’s misplaced is your thinking, but you’re not alone, so don’t take it personal. I answer everybody, about anything. I learned that from a close friend who is worth north of $100 million, 74, principally retired…when I’m with him his phone always rings and he picks-up on the spot and never even looks at the screen to see who/what is calling. I actually learned it from him 40 years ago when I made my first million answering a cold call from my for-sale sign. He says “you never know where a contact will lead”.
I spend over $10,000 a year on insurance for holdings…someone said on here that sales come from relationships, who knows what could develop from a simple cottage quote. Jeff Bezos answers 400,000 times a day and is worth $34.7 Billion….I don’t think he said “Fat Max? I don’t have time for a $20.00 Fat Max”.
What people do is screen everything and then they run a scenario in their head about where it may lead, then decide the scenario is correct and don’t answer. Brilliant, guess my friend and I got it all wrong. Guess it’s just your stuff that’s important, only what you think will lead anywhere.
Retired, I still get cold emails from reps and I answer every one out of common courtesy. Just a short note explaining I’m out of the game and thanking them for thinking of me. Silence is hurtful, in any form.
your assumption on the insurance person is that they are motivated by getting rich?
i, of course, am not the insurance person. so to project what (s)he believes on me is probably a mistake. i'm just throwing out some possibilities. while i'm not as motivated by money alone as some people are, i probably would have tried to sell you a policy just based on my work ethic (assuming my job was to sell you an insurance policy). also, it's quite possible the person on the other end of the email doesn't actually get a commission or any other sort of personal benefit from selling you a policy, so profit motive is no longer applicable. it could be that all profit trickles up, which might be different now compared to when you were younger. could have been a sickness in the family. maybe the person you tried to contact was fired the day before and the email system wasn't updated.
jeff bezos did not sell you a tape measure. that was automated. most emails i get from leed spam are automated. a lot of calls that come into the office are automated. taking time to answer every dodge report or mcgraw hill solicitation really does become burdensome after a while. i don't know whether your 100 million dollar friend was receiving automated calls when he could have otherwise been directing his attention towards you in real life, but it's possible the world has changed enough that people have had to change with it. different doesn't mean better.
anyway, good luck afrdzak. replacing a real life interview with a phone interview is probably not a good sign, but you never know. did you get a time set up to go in an meet people?
Thanks curtkram.
The office is on other other side of the country so an in-person interview is not the most feasible. We'll see if anything comes out of this phone call. I think that's the most I can do before getting a restraining order as wise d[-_-]b mentioned.
Curt - Obviously can’t answer a machine, but if you can’t answer you should get a machine to respond. Of 12 emails I don’t think they were all dead or at funerals. Getting “rich” has nothing to do with it….I listen to all the complaining about just making a living on here and I’ve never met a person who survived in a vacuum. Things often come to you in very indirect ways and if you get clairvoyant about the outcome you will end up in a vacuum.
Good luck Afrdzak.
Well, I recently came across their job posting which was posted after I received that initial email and before I called. I don't meet half their requirements.
Thank you, interviewer, for not owning up to your mistake, wasting my time, energy of hope, and for the unnecessary ego check.
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