Not Hearing Back After An Interview

Sadly this practice is becoming more and more commonplace. It used to be in the old days that you would actually get written rejection letter from companies; back when I was in school we’d almost proudly show off the “Ding Letters” as badges of honor. Alas, most companies no longer send even an e-mail rejection letter.

There are two primary reasons companies do not get back to candidates. One is simply that it’s uncomfortable to tell someone they didn’t make the grade (although this was apparently not a problem in the past); another is potential liability. Personally I’ve never heard of a company being sued specifically for sending a candidate a rejection letter, but in our litigious society it’s easy to imagine it happening. People feel aggrieved and victimized for all sorts of reasons, and based on the wording of the rejection letter some candidates may see themselves as victims of discrimination.

My rule of thumb is that if a week goes by after your last interview and you haven’t heard anything back from the company, you should write them off. It might make sense to stretch this to two weeks if you know they are interviewing lots of candidates.

Waiting much longer than a couple of weeks to hear back is fruitless and likely to give you an ulcer. If that much time has gone by and you haven’t heard a peep, they’ve most likely decided to pass on you. If they had been interested in keeping you in the running they probably would have e-mailed you with some apology about the process taking so long.

Some people wonder whether it’s okay to contact the company if they do not hear back after an interview. Generally it’s fine to do this, but I’d predict that 99% of the time you’re not going to like the answer you get.