Do potential employers owe you an explaination?

[Marshall1]

Often times on here I've posts on here where a an interview has taken place, maybe even a second one, the person is told "you will hear something soon" but "soon" turns into a week, two weeks..no response. The interviewee may email or call to "check on my status" but gets no reply at all. So this leave the person wondering what they said wrong, why the job they were so sure they would be offered was not only offered but dead in the water without so much as a "thanks again for meeting with us" for the 2nd or 3rd time.

Someone I know who is going through this now said "I think employers owe the interviewee a follow up to the interview - either yes or no, instead of having people hang on hoping. Professionalism and courteously run both ways." He drove 2 hrs one way for an interview, had a second interview a week later at another office an hour from his home and was told he was going to move onto the last interview and would be contacted for a date/time with 24 hrs. It has now been 2 weeks. He has tried contacting the two people he has previously been in contact with but is not getting a response by phone or email from them.

While I agree with him about the professional aspect and I do think employers "should" follow up appropriately, I don't think they owe interviewees anything. Am I wrong?

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

The distinguishing mark for me is whether the app was interviewed.

If so, a short -- even a canned -- response would be the acceptable business etiquette.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

I view interviews as a particular type of transaction where the concept of "owing" doesn't exist, because neither side has agreed in advance what each will bring to the table or agreed to consider how difficult your travel arrangements were or how many other things you had to do that day. Negotiating generally means each side has something the other side wants. That isn't the case most of the time anymore. It's just one more unfortunate byproduct of the huge number of nurses seeking fewer jobs.

Having said that I would always call back if you don't hear from them in a week. Sometimes things just drop through the cracks and you wouldn't want to miss an opportunity you were not aware of due to the wires getting crossed.

I agree with this...but I move on if there us no response.

Maybe it's me, but I go by the rules "the only person you can control is YOU" and "treat others how you want to be treated", in the sense that I only can be me; however, no one else is going to do what I can do, ESPECIALLY in business...I just have NO expectations when it comes to interacting with people and businesses...I only have expectations, especially high expectations, for how I handle responses to interactions, especially during the job hunt.

[nursel56]

I agree with this...but I move on if there us no response.

Maybe it's me, but I go by the rules "the only person you can control is YOU" and "treat others how you want to be treated", in the sense that I only can be me; however, no one else is going to do what I can do, ESPECIALLY in business...I just have NO expectations when it comes to interacting with people and businesses...I only have expectations, especially high expectations, for how I handle responses to interactions, especially during the job hunt.

I do, too. I agree with everyone who says it is courteous for them to let you know and that even a form-letter style email is better than nothing at all from a professional or etiquette standpoint. I'm just talking about the nuts and bolts realities now. The applicant places a very high value on what the interviewer has to offer them, and in our current situation the employer normally does not reciprocate the feeling - and so feels no need to be courteous, apparently not caring whether or not they foster good will in what could be their future pool of candidates should the tables ever turn.

[green34]

I think that it is nice, but they interview a lot of people. I am always frustrated if I don't know what went wrong with the job. I've never really had any issues getting hired yet, but I understand that it'll be different when I am competing against hundreds of new nursing grads.

[ILUVICU84]

I think it is both professional and just plain common courtesy to at least let someone know if they have not been chosen for a position. I don't look for an explanation ( although that would be a helpful plus) but its just nice not to be kept wondering and worrying. I just interviewed for a position earlier this week and they told me it would be about two weeks before I heard anything (hopefully).