Why You Aren't Receiving Feedback After Applying To A Job

You’ve applied for a job and you sit back and wait for a recruiter. You keep waiting, and eventually never hear anything. What went wrong? It is extremely frustrating when you do not receive any feedback for a position you applied for. Lately, it seems like you won’t even receive the standard “thanks but no thanks” email.

Here are several reasons why you may not receive any feedback on your resume:

*Sheer applicant volume

As many as 1,000 people apply for some positions. From managing the entire screening process, along with assessments, scheduling interviews and other responsibilities that recruiters perform, recruiters do not want to individually respond to all candidates, or have the time to do so. Many applicant tracking systems have the capability to mass identify candidates to send them a decline letter, which other systems do not. The recruiter will think that their time will be better spent focusing on finding candidates, instead of declining them. Recruiters think that no response means an automatic position decline. I’m not justifying this position; this is just what sometimes happens.

*Don’t want to say no

Sometimes recruiters are afraid to decline a candidate pre-emptively, as they might be considered a back-up candidate. This can occur at the beginning of the interview process or at the end. As many positions have over 200 candidates, recruiters and hiring managers are given many quality candidates to choose from. Candidates are divided up into certain groups, and the candidates whose experience closely matches the position will be called for a phone interview. If the phone interview doesn’t go well with a first-choice candidate, then a second-choice candidate will be called. So, recruiters don’t want to decline candidates, in case any of their initial choices falls through.

*You scored poorly on an assessment.

Many companies are offering assessment tests, which are used as personality tests to look for cognitive and deductive reasoning, reliability, customer focus, collaboration, confidence, influence and achievement, among other characteristics.
I work with these types of tests on a daily basis. When someone scores in a low range, I can’t call them and say you scored poorly, so you are no longer being considered. As the tests are supposed to only be a part of the hiring process, many companies are reluctant to say this is the sole reason a person was declined from going further in the interview process.

Recently I had a candidate that had a good resume, but scored very poorly on the assessment test. Because of the high influx of other qualified candidates who scored much better, the candidate was declined. She repeatedly emailed me asking why she was declined, and per our legal department, I was instructed to say only that “another candidate whose experience better matches our position’s requirements was chosen”. So, ensure that you take these assessment tests seriously, and can take them in a quiet place, where you will not have interruptions.

*They already have someone else in mind.

Many companies post jobs even though they already have candidates in mind. This can include an internal person who will be transferred, promoted or demoted to the position, or it could be a friend of the hiring manager. The company that I work for has a standard rule where they will post a position for five days, even if they have someone else in mind, in order to consider outside candidates. If someone applies who is an amazing fit for the position, then they could provide strong competition to the internal or other person who is already being considered. However, for the most part, the hiring manager has made up their mind before the position is posted.

*Your skills don’t match the position’s requirements

Due to the economy, many people apply for jobs without carefully reviewing the requirements. I’m currently recruiting for a Human Resources Generalist position. Resume response has been large, over 200 resumes in under a week, in a smaller market. It is frustrating to a recruiter when people apply to the position who do not have any Human Resources experience. If your experience is in information technology, please do not apply to a mid-level human resources position, as you will not be considered for the position. Because people are applying for positions that are not in their specialty, it takes time away from recruiters to successfully do their job with maximum efficiency. If you are a match to the description, you should apply to the position.

Sometimes people think that if they apply to every job that a company has an opening for, it will get their name out there and they will eventually be chosen for a position. Candidates should apply only to jobs that they have experience in, or have worked in a similar position in the past. A recruiter may think that if your experience is in quality assurance and you are applying to a marketing position, they won’t even bother with a decline letter, as the candidate should be aware that he/she is not a match for the position.

*You don’t live close to the job

I just saw a resume from a candidate who is living in Seattle, for a part-time (3 hour per week) position in Phoenix. While the person had a good resume, I’m not going to spend my time talking to someone who may or may not move over 1,000 miles away for a job that is 3 hours per week, when there are other applicants who live closer. The economies of scale do not balance. With the person’s qualifications, he/she should be able to get a job in Seattle.

If this was a full-time position, I would probably call the person, as it is a hard-to-fill position, and the candidate would have more motivation to move to a different state for a stable position, compared to a temporary position.

An interesting way around this is to leave your address off of the resume. You can just put your phone number and email. That way, recruiters won’t know where you live, and won’t have initial biases about your commute/relocation.

With so many people having different cell phone prefixes from where they reside, a recruiter will not think twice about calling someone who applied for a job, if they think they are in the area.

These are just some of the reasons why you may not receive any response from a recruiter. Keep in mind that it is very tough to find a job, or even receive a call from a recruiter at this time, so keep persevering in what you are doing.