When You Haven't Heard From an Employer
We’ve all found ourselves in a waiting game in the job search. Here are steps to take after you have reached out to a potential contact/referral or interviewed and are waiting to hear back.
Keep in mind that employers (and people in general) are busy. An employer’s top priority is very likely not interviewing potential employees (even though it’s an important job to do) and instead something more closely related to what their business is trying to accomplish. Recruiters are sometimes working on 20-30 open jobs at a time, so don’t panic if you don’t hear anything for a few days.
Guidelines
It’s always your job to keep the communication lines open! You’re the one looking for a job, so even if a contact/employer says “you can expect to hear from me in a week”, you should send a check in note if you don’t hear from that person in seven days. A friendly check-in email that expresses your continued enthusiasm for the role and your desire for more conversations is appropriate. Don’t sit around waiting for things to happen to you.
Keep it primarily to email. When communicating with a potential employer, keep correspondence limited to email. Do not use social media messaging services or texts. Employers want a trail of communication when hiring. Facebook posts on a hiring manager’s timeline aren’t a good way for them to make a professional paper trail. It’s a best practice to keep your conversations in the same email thread so the employer can easily place you in their mind.
When is a phone call more appropriate than email? In almost all cases your follow ups should be via email. Talk with your Career Coach if you think a phone call would be appropriate.
Don’t assume the employer isn’t interested. Employers, especially internal and HR recruiters, are inundated with applications for every position. Reviewing applicants takes time, so be patient. It’s not personal.
Be positive. In every piece of communication, remain positive and enthusiastic about the connection/job opportunity. Don’t say things like “since I haven’t heard from you I’m guessing the job is no longer available or you aren’t interested”. Never use language that sounds like you’re angry or offended either, like “It’s been some time since I interviewed for the [Job Title] role. Would you please update me on the status of my application? This weeks-long process is hampering my job search and it really would be nice to know.”
Don’t call them out. Don’t ever scold an employer because you think they’re taking too long. Using language like “it’s been 5 days since I heard from you and I’m wondering if you’re still interested in speaking with me about the opportunity” is not appropriate. You’re the one that needs their help. This behavior will dramatically reduce your chances of the employer responding to you in a positive way. This sort of attitude in general toward people will not serve you well in your job search.
Possible scenarios in which you might find yourself waiting to hear back:
You sent your resume to a contact/internal referral at a company and haven’t heard back.
You sent a cold email to a person you found on LinkedIn and the person never responded.
You have applied to a job but haven’t heard back about your application.
You’ve responded to an introduction from Flatiron School’s Employer Parternships team but the employer hasn’t responded to schedule your interview.
You have interviewed for a position on the phone or in person, or completed and submitted a code challenge and are awaiting a response from the employer on next steps.
What to do when you find yourself in these situations:
You sent your resume to a contact/internal referral at a company and haven’t heard back. Follow up with a friendly email 7-10 days later stating that you’re still super excited about the company for X reasons and that you’d still love the opportunity to connect with someone in HR or on the hiring team.
You sent a cold email to a person you found on LinkedIn and the person never responded. Follow up with a brief, cheerful email that says you’d still love the opportunity to chat/meet with this person to talk about X project or X company. In this case, only follow up once.
You have applied to a job but haven’t heard back about your application. If this is the only action you’ve taken, you can’t really follow up because you didn’t send your resume to a person. You cannot take any further action. This is a big reason why cold-applying to jobs isn’t the best use of your time.
You’ve responded to an introduction from Flatiron School’s Employer Partnerships team but the employer hasn’t responded to schedule your interview. Send a friendly follow up note 5 business days later expressing your continued interest in the role and your availability for the upcoming week to have a conversation. If you follow up once and still don’t hear back, talk to your Career Coach. You can also ping the Employer Partnerships contact who connected you, to see if they have any additional updates.
You have interviewed for a position on the phone or in person, or completed and submitted a code challenge and are awaiting a response from the employer on next steps. Send a friendly check in email 5 business days later that accomplishes the following:
Reminds the person of the role you interviewed for, and thanks the person for taking the time to interview you *Do not say “You probably don’t remember me” or “You may remember me” -- it is highly likely the person will immediately recall your meeting once you set the context for him/her.
Expresses your continued interest in the company for X reason(s).
Adds value in the form of a blog post you wrote (if you think the employer would value it).
Indicates you would welcome additional conversations with members of the team/your desire to move forward in the process.
If you still don’t hear back, send another email 7-10 business days after that. Do your best to offer additional new value and remain positive. Once you’ve sent your 3rd follow up, check in with your Career Coach about what action to take next.
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