Attn: Hiring/Interviewers on AngelsWin - Is a follow up thank you call appropriate?

[Count Orlok]

I got my job without a follow up. They said they'd make a decision in two weeks and exactly two weeks later they offered it to me.

[nate]

To be honest, I have hired 20 people in the last year.  I never considered their follow up when hiring.

 

Still doesn't hurt.

[halobob]

Seems like all stock brokers are arrogant POS

I didn't know stock brokers are still in existence. 

[Brandon]

 I look at a hundred deals a day. I pick one.

[Jay]

 I look at a hundred deals a day. I pick one.

 

great scene

[CaliAngel]

Well just a bit of an update, I didn't get the job I wrote for this thread.

 

But that was okay! I continued applying and was interviewed for another amazing job over the phone. She said I did great and I was asked to come in for an in person interview the next day. So I did.

 

In person interview went great. First I was interviewed by 2 women I'd be working with, and it went well. They said to hold on and that I'd be talking to their boss, who is the Supervisor of the entire accounting department at this location. Her "assistant" came in to the room and told me if I was talking to the Accounting Supervisor, I was doing a great job so far and keep it up.

 

Interview with the supervisor went even better than the previous. I really let my personality shine, and we even talked about some things not related to the job. After about 40 minutes, she said hold tight, and her "assistant" came back stating I'd be filling out a background check form. He basically hinted to me that anyone who got a background check, and passed, was basically hired for the job. IE: They don't do background checks for people they're not interested in hiring.

 

The weight of the world was immediately lifted off my shoulders. My background is completely clean, so I had nothing to worry about. "I finally did it" I thought to myself. After all my hard work and persistence, it paid off. I finally was getting a job I wanted and would be proud to be a part of. So I filled out the background check, talked to a couple more people about how to come in dressed on my first day, when I would be starting after they received the background check, and they said they'd be calling me that Thursday to be given my schedule, etc. Needless to say I felt like a new man.

 

Fast forward to the day after the interview. I get a call at 10am, and decided to pick up. It was the "assistant" calling, and he told me he wanted to discuss my prior employment. "That's odd" I thought to myself. "Why now?" So I said that was fine, and he asks me to go over my work history for the past 10 years. I told him, "Well, I've worked a lot of jobs, and am not really sure about the specific dates off the top of my head." He says that's fine, he just wanted to get an idea and we proceed to go over all the jobs I'd worked. Needless to say I've had a varied work history. Some jobs I worked 2 1/2 years, some I worked a year, one was strictly for the summer. Keep in mind, these were jobs like server, valet driver, register clerk, ride operator, things I had no intention on keeping for the tenure of my life anyway. Then I get this line:

"So it sounds like you don't really hold jobs for more than 1-2 years on average. It kind of puts you at-risk for us using resources to train and teach you if you're not going to be here for an extended period of time."

I was blown away. I explained "Not at all. All those jobs were just to make money going through school, I never intended on keeping them anyway. This position at your company is what I got an education for, it's something I've been working my entire life to be a part of. It's a life changing career job, and it's a place I intend on working at for the next 5-10 years."

 

He reviews my work history again, all of it semi-accurate considering I couldn't specifically remember my employment down to the month for the past 10 years off the top of my head. He asks when I'd be available to start, makes note, and then says he'll call me the next day.

 

Next day: No call.

This entire week: No call.

 

It's now been 9 days since I've heard anything from the company, and I'm frustrated as hell. If my employment history was such an issue, why didn't we discuss it at any point before that? I did tell my interviewers about the jobs I'd previously held, and they didn't even ask "how long?" and it seemed like a non-issue.

 

So now, again, I don't know what to do. I've told various people about this, and they're blown away as well. First, they've never been asked that question or had it keep them from getting a job (barring a work history where you have SEVERAL jobs where you only work 6-8 months). They don't understand how that could be the only issue keeping me from being hired, especially considering they WENT THROUGH with the background check after my conversation with the "assistant" over the phone. Everything I did in the interviews was fine, my background check came in clean (I know because I got sent a copy), I was told I was a great fit for the job, the managers and supervisor obviously thought I was good enough, but because of unrelated odd jobs I had straight out of high school, during college, all of a sudden, I'm not "qualified"? THAT is what is keeping me from this job?

 

It's like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders for 24 hours, and has since come crashing down full force with more weight than ever before. I'm frustrated, I don't understand what happened, I can't believe that was the only thing that made me unhirable.

 

I have no idea how to follow up this time. I am planning on doing something Monday morning, I have to atleast try. I have an email address for the recruiter I talked to over the phone, but don't have an email address for the people that interviewed me, and I don't have an extension to their phones. All I have is their first names.

 

I can get through to the "assistant" by calling the company, but I feel like calling him and leaving a voicemail is a waste of breath, because I have to go through him to talk to anyone important.

 

So here I am again, looking for a second opinion. I don't want to seem desperate, but on one hand, it seems like all the stars were aligned, and me being a little aggressive, taking some initiative is maybe what they're looking for. What do you guys think about this scenario? Is there something else going on here? What should I do?

 

Thanks for reading, this vent felt good, although I am frustrated. And again any advice or ideas are greatly appreciated.

[nate]

Sorry to hear you didn't get the job man.

 

To be honest if I have two applicants with equally good interviews, the next step I go to is work history or if it is an internal posting, their reviews and attendance.  I go with the better one.

 

In general people who don't keep the same job very long tend to be complainers that are never happy.  I know your situation is different because they were just jobs to sustain you until you start your career but if you have the choice between two, you pick the one with a more steady work history.

[mp170.6]

What did your background check consist of?

[Stradling]

Usually criminal record and credit check.

[nate]

And drug test

[Stradling]

We only drug test deliver drivers

[Brandon]

Cost the employer money which is why you're usually hired.

I don't get the past employment stuff, that's voluntary info. It doesn't pop up on a background check.

[Spencer]

It's on you now to follow through.

You want this job? Go get it.

Call whatever number you have, explain your situation succinctly and in a professional tone.

A company isn't going to go through the whole dog and pony show just to reject you. If they are worried about your employment history, put the conversation to rest with a clear explanation.

You have nothing to lose at this point. If they weren't thinking of hiring you, they would have told you to f*ck off by now.

[nate]

It's on you now to follow through.

You want this job? Go get it.

Call whatever number you have, explain your situation succinctly and in a professional tone.

A company isn't going to go through the whole dog and pony show just to reject you. If they are worried about your employment history, put the conversation to rest with a clear explanation.

You have nothing to lose at this point. If they weren't thinking of hiring you, they would have told you to f*ck off by now.

 

Not true, if he is a backup option they may be waiting for all the paperwork, drug tests and background checks to clear before calling to turn him down.

[mp170.6]

I wonder if the background check included verification of education.   I say this because my own information was (and maybe still is) incorrect in their databases.  One of the providers is this outfit: http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/verifiers/

 

CaliAngel, do you have a degree in business or accounting, or something along those lines?  Did you recently graduate? 

[InsideThePark]

sucks that you didn't get the job but it's great that you really let your personality shine.

[Ray McKigney]

Letting your personality shine was probably the worst thing you could have done. After all, you're CaliAngel. 

[Brandon]

Haha. Brutal dudes.

[Brandon]

It's on you now to follow through.

You want this job? Go get it.

Call whatever number you have, explain your situation succinctly and in a professional tone.

A company isn't going to go through the whole dog and pony show just to reject you. If they are worried about your employment history, put the conversation to rest with a clear explanation.

You have nothing to lose at this point. If they weren't thinking of hiring you, they would have told you to f*ck off by now.

No, they would have told him not to **** off and just moved on to another hire like they have.

[CaliAngel]

What did your background check consist of?

 

The report I got had to do with checking criminal background, sex offender stuff, driving record.

 

Except for a BS "no turn on red" ticket that got thrown out in court, but showed up for some reason anyway, everything was clean.

 

No drug test, yet, but I'd pass if I had one. I don't do drugs.

 

I wonder if the background check included verification of education.   I say this because my own information was (and maybe still is) incorrect in their databases.  One of the providers is this outfit: http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/verifiers/

 

CaliAngel, do you have a degree in business or accounting, or something along those lines?  Did you recently graduate? 

 

Degree in Business Finance, graduated 2013.

 

I did notice for some reason my birthday was incorrect, not the month or year, just the day. Instead of the 29th, it was the 2nd for some reason.

 

Letting your personality shine was probably the worst thing you could have done. After all, you're CaliAngel. 

 

Haha. How I am on here and how I am professionally are 2 different things. Who knows how I'm looked at on here, guess my reputation proceeds me.

 

 

Call whatever number you have, explain your situation succinctly and in a professional tone.

 

Appreciate the advice. But keep in mind I don't want to talk to just anyone. I want to be able to talk to someone who can actually have some say in the matter, who can explain what the hell is going on. I suppose when I call I can ask to be forwarded to the ladies that interviewed me, but I only know their first names, so I'm not sure if they operator will forward me through. And if I do get through, the best I will probably get is voice mail.

 

I was also thinking about contacting the initial recruiter I talked to over the phone. She's the Senior Corporate recruiter, she's pretty high up there, and I have her phone number and email. 

 

At all costs I'm trying to avoid just leaving a voicemail. I want to talk to someone live.

 

 

 

No, they would have told him not to **** off and just moved on to another hire like they have.

 

Yup, based off my experiences in this job search, there's no courtesy "you're not hired" call. They don't want to talk to you if you're not hired. They don't tell you over the phone it's not going to work out. They just straight up lie to your face and say "we'll give you a call" and then never call you back and you never hear from them again and they avoid you at all costs. It's actually super disingenuous and complete bullsh*t considering the amount of time and effort people like me put forth to try to work there.

 

If they'd just take 30 seconds to call and say "it's not happening" they'd save a lot of people from a lot of stress and grief.

 

And I don't get the past employment stuff either, and so far besides Nate, nobody I've talked to does either. It was voluntary information I disclosed, I discussed it over the phone the day after my in person interview, it wasn't on my background check. From what Nate said, it sounds like they had 2 candidates, one being me, and they were finding whatever stupid f***ing little reason they could to weed one of us out. If the other candidate worked somewhere for 6 years, and I have a history of working jobs for 1-3 years, apparently that's all it takes.

Edited October 11, 2014 by CaliAngel

[mp170.6]

Degree in Business Finance, graduated 2013.

 

I did notice for some reason my birthday was incorrect, not the month or year, just the day. Instead of the 29th, it was the 2nd for some reason.

 

What happened to me was pretty bizarre, but not unlike your situation.  I applied for a job and they did an early background check for some reason. 

 

The employer tells me they detected "deception" on my resume/application.  I said, huh(?) what are you talking about?  I was a part time student my last semester before graduating.  The knuckleheads in Admissions & Records at CSUF classified me as a Continuing Ed student, not a regular CSUF student.  So when the employer tried to verify dates of attendance, there was no record of me attending that final semester. 

 

They tried to say I was dishonest until I pointed out their database problem.  I'm actually glad it happened that way because it showed me really quickly how dysfunctional that company was. 

[Tank]

Well just a bit of an update, I didn't get the job I wrote for this thread.

 

But that was okay! I continued applying and was interviewed for another amazing job over the phone. She said I did great and I was asked to come in for an in person interview the next day. So I did.

 

. . .

 

So here I am again, looking for a second opinion. I don't want to seem desperate, but on one hand, it seems like all the stars were aligned, and me being a little aggressive, taking some initiative is maybe what they're looking for. What do you guys think about this scenario? Is there something else going on here? What should I do?

 

Thanks for reading, this vent felt good, although I am frustrated. And again any advice or ideas are greatly appreciated.

 

1. i hope you get the job.

2. i hope all of the people you'll be working with have daughters that they've recently taken to one direction concerts, and that their cubicles are filled with selfies they've taken showing the stage. during the concert. i hope there are commemorative lanyards and t-shirts, also. most of all, i hope they spend their lunch hours with you in the lunch room, and that you sit farthest away from the door so that you can't make a quick exit, and that they spend their time talking about all the fun things they do with their kids that cost money, and that you see how they're more than willing to do stuff like that to create memories and help make their kids happy.

[2002_halos_II]

How old are you Cali?

[Tank]

How old are you Cali?

 

he's old enough to make this his wallpaper on his home computer.

 

 

[CaliAngel]

^I don't know what that is.

 

How old are you Cali?

 

28

 

Why?