Here's the situation: you discover a likely possibility, either on your own of through a recruiter.  You punch up your resume a bit, send it in and get a call back. There's a positive phone screening interview and you're told that there seems to be a fit.  You're a good candidate and. you'll be passed on to the hiring manager.  But, there's no clear directive about the timetable for interviews.  So you'll have to wait.

A week goes by.  You follow up with your recruiter/hr person, who tells you that there's no word yet, but feedback is on the way very soon.  After another few days, you call again.  This time the response is that your contact has a call in to the hiring manager and expects to hear something today, tomorrow at the latest.  Still no answer the next day.

Or the day after that.  Or even by the end of the week. 

The response to your next email is that there's been a crisis at the hiring company and the position is going to be on hold for a week or two.  "We'll stay in touch."

So you wait some more.  You keep trying to touch base with your contact, but it's getting harder and harder.  No responses to your emails.  Or your voicemails - because you can never seem to catch your contact at his/her desk.

It's six to eight weeks after that initial positive interchange and you've got nothing.  Nothing, except your frustration and anger.

What's Wrong with This Picture?

You pore over your resume. What did you put in that you should've left out?  What did you leave out that you should‘ve put in?  You obsess about the conversations you had with your contact - What exactly did you say?  Where did you mess up?  What should you have said?  What's wrong with you? 

Nothing.  You just have to suck it up and let it go. For your own mental health, otherwise, it'll kill your job search.  In nearly every case like this, if it's any consolation, it ain't you.

What's really going on?

1. The position for which you were a "good candidate" has been sent out to a large number of outside recruiting firms by the hiring company.  Let's say that there are 10 recruiting firms working on this requisition.  Each company is going to submit three to five potential candidates.  That makes 30 - 50 resumes that the hiring manager has to review. 

   With a pile that large, the hiring manager gets anal about the exact match to the requirements. You can be a strong candidate and still be cut out of the running by stronger competitors. Or, the hiring manager decides to look at only the first five resumes in the pile.  You're out of it because you were 18th.

2. Hiring managers at companies are very busy and very stressed.  Today, positions don't get approved unless the need is urgent in the extreme.  That hiring manager who desperately needs additional help?  He's too swamped with day-to-day activities and operating emergencies to find the time to interview candidates. 

   Your recruiter is just as frustrated by the delay as you are.  But she has to be pragmatic.  She only makes money when jobs get filled.  The prospect that was so hot from your perspective is now stone cold for the recruiter.  Her attention is redirected toward other, potentially more fruitful openings and you're out of luck.

3. A job requisition is posted and released to external recruiters.  Simultaneously, current employees of the company may also bid for the position.  Their inside track knocks out all outside candidates, including you. 

4. Same situation - a job requisition is approved and released to external recruiters.  But then a decision is made to retrain an existing employee, or split the responsibilities for the approved position among several existing employees, or convert it to an internship for a college student.  The result?  You're no longer in the running.

Why You Don't Get an Answer

This one is easy - people hate giving bad news. 

Some are too tender-hearted to tell you that you've been knocked out.  Some are just plain lazy.  My personal opinion is that most of the time, you get the runaround because people don't want to subject themselves to your pain.  If they can duck you long enough, the theory is, you'll eventually give up. 

This isn't just cruel - it's unprofessional.  This behavior is the dividing line that shows you who you should work with … and who you should steer clear of.  Yeah, I know that the only way to tell is through experience.  But it doesn't necessarily have to be yours.

Everybody knows someone else who's been looking.  Ask around for references on companies and individual names.  You'll hear which ones are "users." And you'll hear which ones are worthy.

I realize that this ugly labor market forces everybody to be less picky than they'd like.  Still, you get to choose whether you want to be selective about who you want to work with or go for the volume approach.  Just be realistic about the results you're going to get.

What You Can Do

Jill recommends emailing between 12:00 and 1:00 so that your email is what your contact sees as soon he/she comes back from lunch. (This is a good trick for getting your resume in front of somebody too.)

And, she says, "Establish yourself as a person, not a resume. Don't just ask me, anything new? Tell me about your new skills or experiences. Take the time to connect with me and there's a better chance I'll remember you when something comes up."

But she also cautions, "Don't be a pest, calling or emailing constantly." You should agree to a contact schedule with the recruiter, and then keep to it. 

More

Questions about job search or other career topics?  Write to me at Jamie@jobcircle.com.

Enjoy this article?  Read more of JobCircle.com's Career Coach articles.

Jamie Fabian spent more than 15 years as a human resources executive before changing careers to become a senior project manager for a growing IT consulting company.  Now in management consulting for a large Pharma company, Jamie would like to be seen as a hybrid of Tom Peters, Tom Jackson, and Tom Wolfe, but spends too much time working, driving carpool and watching mindless TV to write more than this column.  You can contact Jamie with questions and comments at jamie@jobcircle.com.