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I am very interested in a job that I recently interviewed for. I had a phone interview two weeks ago, a face-to-face interview last week and an interview with one of the other sales reps three days ago. When on the phone with the other sales rep, she mentioned that they are down to the last few so I have "made the cut" and that she would think that whoever moves forward would need to interview over the phone with the VP and/or CEO. The day I spoke with her, I emailed her a quick thank you, left a message for the hiring manager (regional director) and sent him a follow-up email.

I did not get a call or email back from the hiring manager. I don't want to look desperate (although I really am and want this job SO bad) but also don't want to miss out because I didn't follow-up enough.

What do I do???

user10747
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    Give it a little time. It's not uncommon for there to be some time gaps between those who work and those at the top. It's not uncommon for individual PTO, circumstances or just internal timelines to cause these things to drag out a bit. I would say give it at least a full business week. – Joel Etherton Oct 04 '13 at 17:58
  • Would you say to give it a full week from my peer interview (she doesn't make the decision) or from my last interaction with the hiring manager (an email setting up peer phone interview, 4 days ago)? – user10747 Oct 04 '13 at 18:26
  • I would say give it a full week from your last contact with the company (re: your last thank you note). – Joel Etherton Oct 04 '13 at 19:01
  • Give them the weekend and if on Tuesday you didn't get the call, then call them. Don't worry about looking needy or whatever..you're showing your interest and that's good. Be patient. –  Oct 04 '13 at 20:49

2 Answers2

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Generally, if you've said your thank yous, then it's best to wait 3-5 days before a follow up.

It's not unusual not to hear back from a hiring manager. In many companies, hiring managers are deliberately not communicative to candidates during the hiring process - your main contact is likely to be the Recruiter - be that an outside agency or a person employed within the organization. The hiring manager is quite likely to have gotten your email and phone call, but didn't respond because he is either too busy, or can't due to company policy.

The exception would be if the hiring manager IS your main point of contact. That's certainly possible.

Either way - it's generally polite to say "thanks" to anyone you interviewed with within 48 hours of the interview. After that, wait 3-5 days from your last contact, and reach out. The reach out should be something along the lines of - "I really liked our interview, the company sounds great. I haven't heard anything back. Is there anything I can do to provide you additional information?"

I'd say a single reach-out is about what you've got left. If you reach out to whoever has been coordinating the interviews thus far, and you don't hear back, you have to assume that the call back isn't likely to come. One would wish that companies would be more polite about clearly informing candidates of the lack of an opportunity, but sometimes this doesn't happen.

bethlakshmi
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bethlakshmni has a good answer, but I'd like to refine that a bit. Wait at least a week from the last contact, and then use your one contact back. At that time, contact them with the following bits of information:

  • Thank them again for their interest so far, and mention your interest in the position.
  • Ask them for their timeline in making a decision, and ask if they still need anything from you.

By asking for their timeline, you will have a better idea of how fast they expect to be moving, without asking them to be moving faster.

And remember that no matter what they say, things come up and can take longer than they originally planned. So, once you've done that, move on mentally to the next opportunity. It's better to be pleasantly surprised when they call you than stressed because they haven't yet.

thursdaysgeek
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