Things That Are Bothering You, Got You All Hibbeldy-Jibbeldy, or just downright pissed, RIGHT NOW!

[PhilKenSebben]

Kind of a odd story - about 2 weeks ago a sort of accidentally applied for a job in a small but excellent school district close to home for me. I say accidentally because I had applied last year right before COVID hit, and obviously the job posting just kind of evaporated and I didn't think much of it - hadn't interviewed or anything but submitted an application. Cut to about two weeks ago when I was checking out that district's job listings randomly and saw that they had reposted the position. I clicked on it thinking I would see what I needed to submit and get an idea of whether I might apply again and what I would need to update etc. However, it automatically renewed my old application.

The next day, while I'm at work (Wednesday) I get a phone call from the principal asking to interview me either Thursday or Friday of that week. Obviously short notice, but I agree and schedule personal leave for that Friday and arrange for sub and write sub plans and all that. Interview goes seemingly well, getting good vibes all around and they tell me they will be in touch by Tuesday of the next week. The interview was with Principals from 2 schools (same grade levels) as well as a person from HR.

Tuesday of last week comes and goes and I email Wednesday night to respectfully check in and they email me back and say "sorry the process is taking longer than we thought as we've had so many good applicants, we will let you know by Friday at the latest. Talk to you soon."

Friday of last week comes and goes and I don't hear anything and I just checked and the job is listed as closed now. Obviously I didn't get the job, or an opportunity to continue with the interview process, but am I off base in being annoyed here? I still would love to teach in this district (and potentially at these schools) in the future, so obviously don't want to burn any bridges, but I would also like an opportunity to get some feedback on where I can improve most as an applicant in the future.

Questions remaining:
If I had probably the last interview how would they have such a bad estimate of how long they would take to move forward? Or, alternatively, why would they BS me and say they hadn't decided if they already had? Why make the point of saying they would talk to me soon?
Relatedly, if they had such a strong field of applicants, why was my 11th hour application with outdated materials met with such immediate interest by them?

I applied for a VP level job (like a real vp not just a title) a few years ago. I had 4 excellent interviews over a 2 week period and took a wonderlich test for them(not sure that is legal but whatever) .

After the last Interview they said they would like me know the following Tuesday. And to this day, 4 years later, I still wonder if I got that job. They dropped off the face of the planet. No calls, no emails, they ignored several outreach attempt and eventually I gave up trying to follow up. Moral of the story is, HR people absolutely suck, and it is easier to ignore you u til you go away on your own

Not saying that for sure is what is going on with you, but, honestly in industry it is pretty standard to just ghost someone sadly.

 

[RedLantern]

Yikes that would be so frustrating, especially so far into the process. You kind of expect to get ghosted early on, but farther along you get to expect some level of decorum.

 

[Texasmade]

You have every right to be annoyed but there's no point in reaching out for feedback. It's a waste of time. At this point they probably don't remember anything you did good or bad during the interview unless you **** your pants or something.

 

[RedLantern]

You have every right to be annoyed but there's no point in reaching out for feedback. It's a waste of time. At this point they probably don't remember anything you did good or bad during the interview unless you **** your pants or something.

Yep, this is the conclusion that I've come to. Reaching out would yield no useful information and potentially cast me in a bad light for the future. Gotta just take the L and chalk it up to the game sometimes.

 

[Omega Male]

Not saying that for sure is what is going on with you, but, honestly in industry it is pretty standard to just ghost someone sadly.

Never understood that. Especially in niche functions where you are quite likely to see each other again, possibly even with the shoe on the other foot. Don't underestimate how much people hate having hard, honest conversations I guess?

 

[RedLantern]

Doesn't even require a hard honest conversation - a simple form email with "Thanks for your time, our search yielded many other strong applicants and we have decided to move forward with a different candidate." would suffice.

 

[Omega Male]

The available evidence would suggest that's too hard?

 

[Van Veen]

"Thanks for your time, our search yielded many other strong applicants and we have decided to move forward with a different candidate."

you need a trigger warning on this

 

[HORNS]

Doesn't even require a hard honest conversation - a simple form email with "Thanks for your time, our search yielded many other strong applicants and we have decided to move forward with a different candidate." would suffice.

You’re just expecting them to have a modicum of graciousness and class.

 

[edinatlanta]

unless you **** your pants or something.

I mean.... we are talking about @RedLantern

 

[edinatlanta]

So my building was giving away free Chick fil a for breakfast. I was literally like 4 minutes late for a biscuit. I have a fruit cup and a banana.

And I still want breakfast.

Today is gonna suck.

 

[patrick_b]

I interviewed a guy a few years ago for a sales position. It was the first interview after several phone screens. We had 6 candidates in a single day in an airport hotel conference room. My colleague and I just mentioned over lunch that the first three candidates of the day were pretty good, "nobody's gone off the rails."

Rookie mistake.

The next guy was the worst interview I've ever seen. It's biotech/biopharma. Account managers sell/present to clinicians, hospital pharmacists and large hospital systems in a large, multi-state territory (10 people manage the country). These biologic drugs can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This guy showed up without a pen or copy of his resume and a huge stack of documents. He wouldn't let us get a word or question in for the first 30 minutes. Just talked over us when we tried to engage him. When we asked about success or results in his current position, he spent 10-15 minutes digging through stacks of paper to find the one document that showed he had a good quarter or month or something. Virtually no preparation.

He reached out to me a week later to ask what he did wrong. He seemed genuinely interested in feedback. He said he'd been on a dozen interviews and couldn't understand why he wasn't moving forward with any company. My HR Dept. was very clear, "do not provide feedback."

 

[c0de]

I applied for a VP level job (like a real vp not just a title) a few years ago. I had 4 excellent interviews over a 2 week period and took a wonderlich test for them(not sure that is legal but whatever) .

After the last Interview they said they would like me know the following Tuesday. And to this day, 4 years later, I still wonder if I got that job. They dropped off the face of the planet. No calls, no emails, they ignored several outreach attempt and eventually I gave up trying to follow up. Moral of the story is, HR people absolutely suck, and it is easier to ignore you u til you go away on your own

Not saying that for sure is what is going on with you, but, honestly in industry it is pretty standard to just ghost someone sadly.

A few months ago I had 8 interviews over a span of two months with a leading national bank, for a leadership role. Great interviews, great feedback, HR said they're ready to offer but want me to have a discussion with one of the executives.
The executive stepped into the interview asking questions that made no sense at all, I was perplexed. I sent that feedback to the hiring manager, and didn't hear back. A few days later I get an email on how essentially they realized they needed some other expertise that wasn't listed, I didn't get the job (at that point I wouldn't have wanted it if I got it, I'm not a good fit).

Oh well, you can't win them all!

 

[jcman311]

Yeah there need to be some trigger warnings here.

 

[Milksteakboiledhard]

I had several active applications and interviews in progress March 2020. Those all vanished into thin air, only 1 out of 5 companies/recruiters followed up with me. Fast forward to August and I had these same people hit me up for my availability to pick up where they left off. I guess I dodged the proverbial bullet with those firms.