Employers are big chickens.
Especially when it comes to saying, “Thanks, but no thanks”.
With all of the risk of lawsuits these days, it’s no wonder. But as a candidate, you don’t care about employer risk – you care about getting a straight answer.
Chances are you’ve already gotten that answer from the employer of HR department. You just may not have understood exactly what they were saying.
When you’re their first choice – employers make sure you know it, so you’ll choose to work for them instead of taking another opportunity. Even if you’re one of the top 2 – 3 candidates, employers make it very clear that you’re a top candidate.
If you’re not one of the top candidates, then the language starts becoming murky. And when you get murky employer responses, it translates to means don’t count on this job, no matter how well you thought the interview went.
When you’re not one of the top choices, here are 5 ways employers say “We’re not hiring you”:
1.“You’re still in the running”: Keep looking – If you were the top candidate, the employer would make sure you know by telling you “You’re our top candidate.”
2.“We’re going to look at some other candidates”: Employers don’t say this to one of their top candidate choices. If they are looking at other candidates, then they haven’t found the right person yet.
3.“We haven’t decided what kind of person we’re looking for”: Hey, at least this one’s close to the truth … “You’re not the person we’re looking for.”
4.“We also have some qualified internal candidates”: Employers look at internal candidates first, and would have already decided on internal candidates before looking outside. Mentioning internal candidates means “we’re not interested.”
5.“We’re going to sit down and discuss all of the candidates next week”: If you’re a top candidate, you’ve been discussed within 24 hours of your interview. If the hiring manager is willing to wait for a week, they’re willing to risk losing you to another employer. If you were the hiring manger, would you wait a week to decide on your top candidate? Of course not …
When you hear these phrases or unclear employer responses … keep looking.
Employers and recruiters – What other ways do you subtly tell candidates that they aren’t right for the job?
[Source: www.recareered.com]
