A Google recruiter cold-called me -- well, cold-LinkedIn me -- based on my Stack Overflow responses. I did a phone interview even though I wasn't really interested in leaving my current job.
That, plus my location requirements, plus a so-so interview, plus the fact that I wasn't particularly qualified for the job, surely led to the following "Thanks, but no thanks" followup call.
Google did this to me about 8-9 years ago. I interviewed, it went very well, then nothing for weeks. I called the recruiter, got the runaround, finally talked to someone who tells me, "Oh I called and left a message letting you know we weren't interested." No, they didn't. I have voicemail just like everyone else. No missed calls, no missed messages. But it turned out for the best, so no worries. Needless to say, the 90 or so times since then that they've contacted me to come in for more interviews, I've simply ignored them.
I've had similar experiences. I had a recruiter set up a technical phone interview with the developer who never called. No brief email saying something like, "Hi, our developers thought your qualifications weren't a good fit for the position. Good luck on your job search." After emailing the recruiter she said she would talk to the developer and "look into it." I never received any further responses.
My favorite is when you apply somewhere and receive no response. Then several months later, you're contacted by a recruiter from the company at which point you've long past moved on with an offer from somewhere else.
Just to pile on here, I interviewed at Google in Santa Monica in 2007. I didn't get hired. The experience was okay, not awful and not incredibly drawn out. Anyway, I brushed it off and moved on. Then, just this April, I received an email from a Google recruiter noting that I'd interviewed in 2007, complementing me on my work since then, and asking whether I'd like to re-engage in a conversation about working with Google. I wrote back saying sure, I'd like to discuss the opportunity. I never heard anything back again. Six weeks later, I wrote again, asking whether there was some issue, and saying it was strange to reach out to me, for me to reply, and then to hear nothing... but still... nothing. No response.
Then, a few weeks ago, shortly after I'd accepted a new position that I'm actually quite happy with, I received another similar email from a different Google recruiter. I wrote her back and told her about the other recruiter that had recently reached out to me and then went silent after I responded. She promptly called me and we talked. She agreed it was strange, said she didn't see anything in the system about it, but she did apologize and - we had a discussion about Google, the interview process and what it's like now (as opposed to 2007). If anything, it sounded like it would be incredibly long, bureaucratic, drawn out, and fairly ridiculous. I said I'd keep in touch with her if indeed I did want to re-apply to google, but I think I do not.
> When someone writes back "thanks but no thanks," be sure to respond with the ask that they pass the details of your open positions to their friends and colleagues.
I don't get enough recruiter spam to be really bothered about it, so I respond with a polite "no thanks" to any reasonable messages. It's common courtesy, and as a bonus helps to avoid the "hey, did you read our previous email?" followups also recommended in this article. This strategy used to work fine, but recently there have been a few cases where the followup then is either a request to pass the job posting along, or (even worse) for me to refer people to them.
"Not interested" means I'm not interested, it's not some kind of a sign of engagement for you to exploit. I really hope this doesn't become a trend.
After moving to California in 2011, I decided I missed the office banter and started looking for a job. I found a listing on a large, tech-based recruiting firm (cybercoders) and the job was perfect for my skills. I applied but heard nothing back.
After a week I reached out to the recruiter, and she replied with a curt, "You're not qualified for this role so we're looking elsewhere." I was a bit surprised as the reqs they described in the job listing were exactly what I had been doing for the last 3 years. But it got me thinking whether the company (HR, Hiring Manager, etc) had made the decision or if the recruiter had?
In addition, there was no additional offer from the recruiter to work with me? It was literally that one line. It got me thinking that maybe my experience(s) wasn't valued by the recruiter as someone worth pursuing, as I may be more "work" to land a job than she would want to invest?
Anyway, with my pride slightly dinged, I immediately wrote off the recruiter (and cybercoders as a whole) as someone I wouldn't want to work with in the future. I got a job at a larger company and a few years later, enjoyed responding to the SAME recruiter asking if I was interested in some jobs she had to offer (nothing bridge-burning worthy, but it felt great saying "NO THANKS")
Funny: the recruiter was annoyed at his declination email - a phone call was apparently expected. But how does a company decline? "We do not see a fit at this time, but we'll keep your resume on file". Lol
I always return recruiter calls if I’m mid process. Careers are long games. You don’t know when you bump into people again.
Companies have peed in the water enough to make people not return calls. Probably 50% of the companies I’ve interviewed with ghosted me. I’ve had companies take me to the final round, promise an offer, and then say “the position wasn’t funded”. Anyone on LinkedIn has had to deal with unscrupulous headhunters. In aggregate companies and their reps started acting poorly. People return the favor and it’s not a surprise.
The one caveat is backing out of a signed offer is rough and should be handled with grace. Just not showing up isn’t graceful.
Upon very politely declining an offer from a recruiter on Linkedin, I was very surprised to find a response saying "send me your resume, the offer expires tonight. one day you will be on the job market again, and I will not help you". Unbelievable, I wonder why he had to go out of his way to sound like a jerk, and why he thought that would be a good idea...
Many years ago, I applied for a Google job that I was totally unqualified for. I didn't even get an interview, but they sent me a nice snail mail paper rejection letter anyway. I've heard mixed things about their interview process, but I still get a have a nebulous warm fuzzy feeling when I think about possibly sending a resume in again one day, because of one simple, probably automated, $.29[1] response.
Conversely, at a company I won't publicly name, I got the silent treatment [2], after getting an offer, for asking if I could take two months off between jobs. I can only imagine what would have happened if I tried to negotiate salary.
I understand and appreciate the blogger's comment that people should behave decently, by the simple virtue of being human. But, that's not going to convince anyone who doesn't already want to be a decent person. But what ever happened to unenlightened self-interest, naked greed, and pure avarice? Not only did they sour me on the company, they lost two other potential hires into the same group, when I told them how their potential future boss treated me when I didn't take the offer without negotiating, after being asked why I didn't take the job.
There's pretty much no benefit to treating people shoddily, and a huge potential downside, when the candidate pool you're trying to employ hears about it. Why do it?
[1] Probably less, since they doubtless qualify for bulk mail rates.
[2] I sent a couple of emails to follow-up, and tried calling and leaving a voicemail once. I had the hiring manager's number (and that's the person I would have been directly reporting to), because he gave it to me in case I had any questions. Months later, I asked a friend of mine at the company what happened, and he told me "Yeah, X is pretty busy". The funny thing is, it was a huge microprocessor project that was staffing about 40 circuit designers / logic implementers, and the hiring manager told me they were expecting to continue hiring for another six months. It actually took them longer than that to fill all the positions they wanted, and I would have started before they were finished with the arch/perf simulations and moved onto real logic work anyway, even with a two month delay. I would have saved them paying me two months salary without having any work for me to do!
EDIT: Sorry for adding something after there have been replies, but it's been a long time since this happened. After looking through old emails to jog my memory, I see that they sent me a standard form with a bunch of info they wanted filled out, before I interviewed. One of the fields was availability, which I listed as 2+ months out. It's a big bureaucratic company, so it's understandable that there are standard forms which get sent out that hiring managers never look at, but ignoring this particular thing this particular time is a bit funny, ex post.
I had several screen calls with HR recruiters recently where they asked me why I wanted to work at their company, and I said something like, "Well, you reached out to me, so what do you think?" I did not get any of those jobs.
I like the sentiment, but I would rather a potential hire just apply cold than if a company told me to look at a candidate they just let go (even if it was google).
Warm intros from an entity that just rejected you would be a terrible signal.
I was actually told by one company I worked for previously to not respond to candidates I interviewed. Needless to say I'm not working for them anymore.
Sort of orthogonal, but a perhaps culturally telling anecdote: a few months ago I was actively looking for a new job, and got a cold email from a technical recruiter from Roblox (via linkedin). I was curious, so set up a time to call, he asked for me to submit my cv (which is 90% things you could see on my linkedin, but sure, whatever) through a upload page on some recruiting site of their. Within minutes of submitting the cv, I got a rejection email from them, even though I had already scheduled the call. I figured it was an error, but nope, crickets when the time for the call came around.
I was once told by a recruiter that she absolutely guaran-damn-teed that she would call me after the interview process and let me know the employer's decision. Guaran-damn-teed.
After my in-person interview, about a month passed with no contact from her. I figured I didn't get the job. But I wanted to call her anyway, just because. She said, "Oh, I thought I sent you an email about it. Yeah, they don't want you."
What if the recruiter tells you that Google/FB/etc reviewed your resume and you didn't make the cut? (When in actuality they just don't want to pay the commission)
You wouldn't dislike them, but you might then not apply for a job there (thinking you had already been turned down once), and then Google/FB/etc misses out on any chance to hire you.
I know that not everyone can do this, but at this point, I just thank them and let them know I won't be moving forward. I've only been in this situation twice. One didn't move forward, in the other, the recruiter pushed, then when they realized I was ok walking away, shifted and gave me a range, asking if it sounded reasonable (it wasn't). I've also never had this experience with a company I was particularly excited about yet.
I've only tried this a few times and I seem to get silence in return.
This is only after the phone interview; after I get a "Thanks but no thanks" email I've asked in polite terms why I got passed over. I've heard back only once out of the few times I've done it and I felt that it really was a kind of hard decision for them to make.
Is it impolite? Is it a legal concern? Do they not like me that much? What?
That, plus my location requirements, plus a so-so interview, plus the fact that I wasn't particularly qualified for the job, surely led to the following "Thanks, but no thanks" followup call.
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