Is all time availability expected in the age of cell phones?

[guest1107684]

In my previous interviews, most of the screening calls from recruiters came without notice. They just left a voice message saying that they want to talk to me about available position at their facility. When I was available, I would answer the phone call and the person would ask if right now is a good time to talk. Some just sent emails to schedule an interview. In the past week I got a few emails form recruiters that want to schedule a phone call at the time that would be good for me.

“I have received your application and am interested in discussing a possible position here at _______. Please let me know when is a good time to call you.”

“Thanks for applying for _______. Please tell me a good time for us to speak.”

etc.

I usually respond by saying the following:

“The best time to reach me tomorrow is between 9:00 AM and 12:00 PM. Please let me know if that works for you. My phone number is ________.”

The first recruiter simply did not call. The other recruiter sent me an email on the day when phone call was scheduled saying, “I will call you later today.”

It takes a good chunk of time for me to prepare for a conversation with a recruiter from a specific hospital, plus I have to put everything on hold and wait for that phone call. So I sent an email back to the second recruiter restating that my availability is limited.

“My availability is extremely limited today. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about ________ position with your organization and would like to schedule a specific time when both of us will be available. Please let me know if 09:00 AM - 09:30 AM tomorrow will work for you.

Thank you for your interest in me as a potential candidate.”

The person responds, “Yes, it works, will call you then.”

Again, I put everything on hold and wait for a phone call, and again the person simply doesn’t call at the scheduled time.

Is this a common thing in the days of cell phones when you are expected to be available whenever it is convenient for another person, and the formalities of setting up a time to call don’t really mean anything?

I have another recruiter that sent me a similar email yesterday, and based on my previous experiences I simply don’t know what to expect and how to respond.

[Asystole RN]

Seller v. buyer market.

[guest1107684]

I think I got it. So what they really meant to say is, "We are interested in talking to you about a position at our facility. We are sending you this email to see if you are actually still interested, so we don't make extra effort of calling the person who is no longer interested. If you are still interested, pleased be ready to hear from us anytime regardless of your availability."

Similar strategy as with verbal offers and actual offer letters that are written after the person expressed his/her interest.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

I have never had that experience. I get emails from the nurse recruiter stating "Please let me know days and times you are available for the next two weeks." After giving them my availability, they set a date and time. I applied for the same position twice a few months apart. The first phone interview was on time. The second was 30 minutes early. the recruiter stated that she had extra time before my phone interview time and that she would try to call me early. Since I applied for the same job a few months ago, her phone call was a formality and didn't want to make me wait an extra 30 minutes for a 5 minute phone call.